The Quebec Provincial Police crime unit has opened up an investigation after a man’s body was found lifeless on highway 13 (in Laval) northbound between highways 440 & 640.

A call to the police about a seriously injured person came in at around 11h30am. Unfortunately the man passed away before the Police came on the scene.  The death is being treated as suspicious because on Tuesday morning (March 21, 2017) it was reported a man in his 30s was surrounded by a group of men and beaten before being forced into a car in the parking lot of the Tutti Frutti restaurant in the Ste-Dorothée district of Laval and are believed to be related.

The incident has caused the northbound side of Highway 13 to be closed until further notice. Major traffic problems as drivers are being forced onto the service road.

Martin C. Barry

During an afternoon luncheon held at the Château Royal on Sunday March 5 to mark International Women’s Day, more than 100 members of the Hellenic Women’s Federation of Laval-Electra heard from a Laval woman who made her mark in the world and who offered advice on how others can advance in their careers and lives.

Although the Hellenic Women’s Federation-Electra holds an event like this every year, “this year we took it to another level,” association president Patricia Lagopatis said in an interview with the Laval News. “The organization is actually growing, so we’re very happy,” she added.

‘Bold for Change’

The theme of this year’s meeting was ‘Be Bold for Change.’ The keynote speaker was Dr. Hellen Christodoulou, executive-director for Quebec of the Canadian Institute of Steel Construction and a renowned expert in the design and maintenance of bridges, with more than 35 years experience in the domain.

“If there is one thing I can assure you it’s that the word ‘bold’ is not only a word to be used for change, but a word that has transcended over the years and has had a tremendous impact on women’s lives and their efforts for advancement, for respect, for equality and for justice,” Christodoulou said in a speech she delivered in Greek and English.

Christodoulou recalled that towards the beginning of her working life, she was one of only two female engineering graduates in a class of 85. The other woman subsequently decided to pursue a career in a field unrelated to engineering.

Male dominated field

Christodoulou said that the first life-changing moment for her came not long after she became a lead engineer for bridges at Canadian Pacific. It was also the first time that a woman occupied that important role with the company “and it broke every taboo in the book,” she added, referring to the fact bridge engineering was regarded as an almost all male field at that time.

Upon her return from a holiday in Greece that summer, her superior at CP confronted her over a bridge plan which contained a glaring mistake – a variation between the length of two steel beams. Christodoulou (who also holds law degrees as well as an MBA and consequently acquired the habit of carefully documenting everything) had saved her original plans.

A few minutes later, she showed them to the senior administrator while pointing out that the change was made by another engineer. Although he apologized, Christodoulou said she saw an opportunity in the circumstances and seized it: she quit.

Stand your ground

“He was floored,” she said regarding the boss’s reaction. The chief engineer called her a few days later to drop by his office to sit down and talk. “To make a long story short, he says ‘listen, I need you, you have to stay, so what do you want?’ So I named all sorts of things – more vacation, more pay, more whatever. And he says ‘done.’”

Christodoulou said the most important thing she learned from the experience was the value of stepping up. “It’s important that we have to stand our ground,” she said. A year later, the chief engineer retired.

From a staff of 50 engineers, he nominated her as his replacement and Christodoulou took over the department. “Slowly, I saw that the traditional view of women was changing. The traditional male-dominated views were a little bit fading. And we see this more and more today.”

Credibility and merit

Christodoulou said that in all her years as an engineer, “I have witnessed first-hand that women can choose to succeed by many other means. However, I believe that true dignified success is only with credibility and merit. No lies, no backstabbing, no hypocrisy, and certainly not by questionable morality. It’s a choice we make and it’s a choice by which we’ll be judged.”

Among those attending last Sunday’s event were a number of women who’ve made their mark in the world of politics. They included Laval city councillor for Chomedey Aglaia Revelakis, Vimy Liberal MP Eva Nassif, Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board Ward 8 commissioner Vicky Kaliotzakis and former Ahuntsic Liberal MP Eleni Bakopanos (who was the first Greek-born woman to be elected to Canada’s Parliament).

On February 20th, 2017, as part of the McGill Training and Retention of Health Professionals Project, Agape coordinated a field trip to The Jewish Rehabilitation Hospital in Laval. Over 30 fortunate students from Laval Senior Academy High School and North Star Academy Private High School were given a tour of the hospital along with several presentations from health care professionals. Agape is hopeful that many of these students will be motivated to eventually return to work in Laval as bilingual health professionals.

Presentations were given in physio therapy, occupational therapy, nutrition, psychology, social service, kinesiology, and speech therapy. In the afternoon, students were offered a buffet lunch and finished the day with case presentations between therapists and actual patients.

The McGill Training and Retention of Health Professionals Project is funded by Health Canada and contributes to Quebec’s initiatives to ensuring English-speaking Quebecers have access to the full range of health and social services in their own language through measures designed to build and maintain a sufficient complement of health and social services personnel capable of providing services in English.

Agape’s Project “Investing Towards the Future of Health and Social Service in Laval” is in it’s third year and has had much success. This project aims at creating awareness of the needs of the English Speaking Community of Laval, increase understanding and promoting careers in health and social services through collaboration with various key partners.

On September 29th 2016, Agape coordinated key presentations at it’s special NPI meeting at Cité de la Santé Hospital with CHSSN consultant/researcher Dr. Joanne Pocock about English Language Health and Social Services Access in Quebec. In March 2016, as part of it’s McGill funding, Agape awarded 3 bursaries of $5000 each to bilingual university students willing to return to Laval to work in Health and Social Services. This year, there will be 2 more bursaries awarded to university students. Deadline for submission is March 24th 2017.

For more information, visit the Agape – McGill project website at www.lavalinitiative.org

Martin C. Barry

RECRUES Laval, a rebranded Commission scolaire de Laval program designed to encourage local entrepreneurship while accompanying young entrepreneurs during the challenges involved getting a business off the ground, got a spectacular launch on Feb. 28 with the announcement of the program’s first graduates.

Graduates from program

Each year, RECRUES Communauté Laval will be selecting 10 young entrepreneurs to take part in the 330-hour program. Coming from a variety of sectors of the economy, they’ll receive instruction from the CSDL’s adult education and professional training department, following which they will fulfill a five-year commitment to the Laval community.

One of the recent graduates from the program is Fadi Khalil, a Chomedey resident who runs an internet/web services consultancy company. While Khalil’s curriculum vitae notes he has a PhD in advanced technology, he needed the extra push provided by the RECRUES program to turn his knowledge into something practical. Another recent graduate, Sophie Saint-Fleury, received help from the program to start a business that assists and helps integrate newly-arrived immigrants to the province.

Encouraging entrepreneurship

“Entrepreneurship is certainly something to be encouraged in order to allow our students to succeed,” said CSDL president Louise Lortie. “By offering such an opportunity to these new entrepreneurs, most of whom are graduates of the launching a business program offered at the CSDL’s Paul-Émile-Dufresne professional training centre, we will be bringing out the will to be entrepreneurs among the students, be they young or young adults, while at the same time the RECRUES entrepreneurs will go on to act as ambassadors in our establishments.”

First launched in 2015-2016 under the banner Moovjee Québec Communauté Laval, the program had 12 graduates that first year. Those who completed the program this year received various forms of training and assistance that the program’s organizers estimate as having a total value of $150,000. The Table d’Action en Entrepreneuriat de Laval played a role in making the program a reality. As well, financial assistance for the program was received from Quebec’s Ministry for the Economy, Science and Innovation (MESI).

A shared economic vision

While the City of Laval had no active part in developing or supporting RECRUES Laval, Laval executive-committee member Raynald Adams attended the launch ceremony in recognition of the fact the city will undoubtedly be drawing benefits from the program. “It does embody the principles that we included in our strategic vision and planning,” he told the Laval News. “These people are developing now what Laval is likely to be like in the future.”

Martin C. Barry

In a bid to support groups dedicated to improving the well-being and continuing development of Laval’s senior citizens, Quebec Minister for Senior Citizens Francine Charbonneau last week announced $318,000 in subsidies to four groups in Laval that provide assistance to seniors.

Grants to five groups

Charbonneau, who is the MNA for Mille-Îles as well as Minister for the Laval Region, made the announcement at the Pavillon du Bois Papineau in Auteuil on Feb. 27. Sainte-Rose MNA Jean Habel was present. Charbonneau told the Laval News that her ministry wants to make sure the organizations receiving the subsidies have enough resources to do their work on behalf of the seniors.

The four organizations receiving the sums under the provincial government’s Québec ami des aînés (QADA) program are DIRA-Laval ($82,180), La Société Alzheimer de Laval ($76,950), Groupe Promo-Santé ($66,350) and le Comité lavallois en abus et violence envers les aînés (CLAVA) ($77,756).

$11 million province-wide

Another group, the Association pour aînés résidant à Laval, is receiving $15,000 under the Initiatives de travail de milieu auprès des aînés en situation de vulnerabilité (ITMAV). The subsidies are part of an $11 million funding package announced earlier in February for more than 100 similar projects supporting the needs of senior citizens across the province.

“If the organizations here this morning were chosen it’s because their proposals were well thought out and taken seriously,” Charbonneau said while addressing the recipients. Referring to a specific type of intervention done for seniors by one of the five groups, Charbonneau noted that members of the National Assembly have begun detailed work on the proposed Bill 115 involving measures to deal with the abuse of senior citizens.

New law to safeguard seniors

“This will be the first law in Quebec to specifically deal with abuse wherever they might be, whether it’s in a private or public residence or in a health establishment,” said Charbonneau. “As you all know as well as myself since you all deal with senior citizens, abuse is something very undesireable.

“It’s not something we want to deal with, but unfortunately it must be dealt with,” she continued. “Let’s hope that this draft bill advances quickly and Quebec has a policy so there is less and less abuse of our senior citizens.”

Martin C. Barry

Donald Trump in all his manifestations seems to be turning up just about everywhere these days – whether it’s on stage at Laval Senior Academy or on Saturday Night Live.

The newly-elected U.S. president’s mesmerizing influence was evident in LSA’s 2017 Blue & Gold Review ‘Trapped!,’ which they put together with the help of more than a half-dozen staffers who helped stage it at the Souvenir Blvd. school on the evenings of Feb. 24-25.

LSA welcomes Trump

In a scene towards the conclusion of the second act, an LSA student who bears a glancing resemblance to Trump – but who has a Trump-like crop of wavy blonde hair atop his head as a visual cue – takes over centre stage where he spouts Trumpisms for a short stretch. Whatever else he might be worth, the 45^th president of the U.S. is useful for comic relief as the butt of endless jokes.

The show, which drew more than 400 people both nights, drew on the talent of around 80 performers and nearly three dozen other behind-the-scenes people. It was the continuation of a tradition that began at the former Laval Catholic High School almost four decades ago as an extra-curricular activity, according LSA lab technician Ralph Di Iorio who was a staff advisor to the production.

Six months’ work

A tremendous amount of preparatory work went into the show, which included a succession of scenes featuring humorous situations and punch lines, between which were live music performances. Auditions began as early as last September, while rehearsals were underway since last October, said Renée St-Germain, an LSA French teacher who also served as an advisor.

“The nice thing about this is it’s cross-curricular,” said LSA principal Dena Chronopoulos. “They get drama, music, literature. They put all these together to create this performance, which was a process that lasted a good six months.”

An LSA group effort

According to Chronopoulos, the success of this year’s Blue & Gold review is concrete evidence that the two former high school communities, Laval Liberty and Laurier Senior, which were fused just a few years back to form the new Laval Senior Academy, have finally emerged as one.

“Clearly what the kids have accomplished they did as a unified school showcasing its talents,” said Chronopoulos. “Tonight it’s about the arts, it’s about celebrating, about love and unity. It’s about coming together and putting on something that’s spectacular in a way that wasn’t done before.”

Martin C. Barry

Students from a half-dozen Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board schools in Laval joined several hundred other pupils from all over the greater Montreal region at the Hellenic Community Centre in Montreal on Feb. 9 to perform selections of the French version of a children’s book and CD recording they worked on together which is based on the classic story of King Midas.

Continuing musical success

The many hundreds of proud parents, friends and supporters who attended the launch and concert heard not only from the project’s creators, but also enjoyed a mini performance of three choral pieces from the CD sung by 450 young choristers accompanied by the Ensemble Symphonique Panarmonia directed by Mark Dharmaratnam.

The new CD/book’s release followed the earlier success of music directors Dimitris Ilias and Maria Diamantis, as well as author and lyricist Glen Huser and composer Giannis Georgantelis, whose previous picture book/CD project, Le Temps des Fleurs, le Temps des Neiges, retold the myth of Demeter and Persephone.

Careful what you ask for

Illustrated by three-time Governor General’s Award-winning illustrator Philippe Béha and adapted into French by Robert Paquin, the latest work, L’Or du Roi Midas, invites readers and listeners into a world where the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for,” is borne out through a king who lusts for wealth and who responds to an offer by the god Dionysus that the king might be able to obtain anything he wants by simply asking that all he touches turns to gold.

At least 450 students representing more than 60 cultural backgrounds joined their voices to record the choral parts for this monumental children’s opera. The young vocalists came from 20 schools that are part of school boards all over the Montreal region, including the SWLSB, the English Montreal School Board and the Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys. The Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal’s Socrates-Demosthène schools were the project’s main partner.

Praise from SWLSB chair

“Communities are really diverse, and yet only together can a community really accomplish and create great things – and that means that participation is essential,” said SWLSB chairwoman Jennifer Maccarone. “So what’s been accomplished tonight is the collaboration of languages, of cultures, of regions and schools, and especially students. And it’s not just unique. It’s proof that when a community comes together, it is so powerful and inclusive. When we come together and we’re united for a cause, our power – in this case our voices – are unlimited.”

For music directors Ilias and Diamantis, it was more than a choir project. They noted that the young participants, while improving their vocalizing skills, also got a chance to discover the world of picture book illustrating, while learning how a professional-quality CD is put together from recording to mixing and editing. The young students also heard their voices soar while being accompanied by a symphony orchestra. And they got to meet some of the stars of Canadian literature, while having fun building their self-esteem, team spirit and discipline.

Six SWLSB Laval schools

SWLSB schools in Laval which participated in the project were Souvenir Elementary, St-Vincent Elementary, Hillcress Academy, Twin Oaks Elementary, Laval Junior Academy and Laval Senior Academy. The producers say that net profits from sales of the book/CD within the school systems will be donated to the participating schools to strenghten music education and literary exploration in their curriculum.

Martin C. Barry

A cozy bistro-bar just off Autoroute 15 in the heart of Laval’s industrial park that has gained popularity among connoisseurs of cutting edge music was the scene on Saturday Feb. 11 for the launch of Blues Train Station, a newly-surging Laval blues band’s latest album.

It’s been a long and hard-working road for the group, The Blues Berry Jam. Back in 1998, a group of young blues musicians took up the challenge of taking part in the Montreal FestiBlues International, in which a number of other groups were also taking part.

A fateful merger

Two of those groups decided to merge, and the following year Blues Berry Jam, consisting of five musicians and two female vocalists, took off. Since then, the group has performed at some of the best staging venues in the province, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival, as well as in Mont-Tremblant, Donnacona, Carleton and Beauport.

The group has also become known in many other parts of eastern Canada, including Edmonston and Caraquet in New Brunswick, and in Ottawa and London in Ontario. In the U.S., the group has accepted invitations to perform at the Red Bank Blues Festival in New Jersey. In addition, Blues Berry Jam has spread its wings to take its unique sound to France where they performed at the Blues-Sur-Seine festival in Mantes-La-Jolie.

Five musicians and a voice

Today Blues Berry Jam is made up of five instrumentalists but just one vocalist. The lineup consists of Lyne Bernard (vocals), Jean-Pierre Fréchette (harmonica, transverse flute and saxophone), Étienne Dextraze-Monast (bass, double bass), Jean-François Gauvreau (drums), Martin Courtois (keyboards, trumpet) and Sébastien Boisvert (guitar).

During their performance at the Rossignol Bistro-Bar on des Rossignols Blvd., the group performed several tracks from the new album, including the very lively and animated Blues Train. Some of the other selections on the album (which was produced by renowned Quebec guitarist J. D. Slim, a.k.a. Jean-Denis Bélanger, who has worked with Nanette Workman, Stephen Barry and Jim Zeller), are classic blues numbers like Dust My Broom (Robert Johnson) and Summertime (DuBose Heyward).

Rossignol club’s a rare find

For its part, the Rossignol Bistro-Bar proves the old adage to be true that some of the best things in life are often found off the well-trodden track. The club has become a venue for some of Canada’s more significant musical performers (though not always given all their due credit), like 1970s rocker Michel Pagliaro (who is booked at the Rossignol on March 24), and solo blues/jazz/R&B vocalist Kim Richardson who will be performing at the Rossignol on April 7.