Although psychiatrists from Montreal’s Pinel Institute tabled a report earlier this week on the mental state of the STL bus driver who crashed into a Sainte-Rose daycare in February, his lawyers asked for a postponement of court proceedings until June 13 so they can evaluate the report’s contents.
Both the prosecution and the defence told a judge at the Palais de Justice de Laval on Saint-Martin Blvd. last Wednesday that they had only received the 22-page report that morning.
An aerial view of the bus crash on the morning of Wednesday Feb. 8. (Screenshot courtesy of Nouvelles TVA)
The driver, Pierre Ny St-Amand, 51, was previously judged fit to stand trial, although his lawyer requested a second assessment to evaluate criminal responsibility, arguing that a medical concept of criminal responsibility is not the same as a legal one.
Two four-year-olds, Maeva David and Jacob Gauthier, were killed in the Feb. 8 crash, which made national and international news, while six other children were injured.
Two men from Laval are facing criminal charges in Trois-Rivieres of pimping for prostitution-related crimes they allegedly committed in several of Quebec.
Patrick Cote and Sebastien Fleurant-Brisson. (Photo: Courtesy of Integrated Anti-Pimping Squad)
Sébastien Fleurant-Brisson, 32, and Patrick Côté, 41, are charged with inciting a person to offer or render sexual services for payment, knowingly promoting the offer of sexual services for payment, and benefiting financially from provided sexual services.
The Integrated Anti-Pimping Squad, which involves several police forces across the province, claims the events occurred between June 2020 and April 2022 in Quebec’s Outaouais, Laurentians, Lanaudière, Mauricie, Chaudière-Appalaches and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean regions.
The police believe there could be more victims and are asking anyone with information to contact the Sûreté du Québec’s Criminal Information Centre at 1-800-659-4264.
The Sûreté du Québec announced on Friday that they had arrested a suspect connected to a murder attempt made against alleged Montreal Mafia leader Leonardo Rizzuto near the intersection of autoroutes 13 and 440 in Laval in March.
The provincial police force said the Escouade nationale de répression du crime organisé (ENRCO) arrested a 32-year-old man from Mascouche the night before.
The attempt on Rizzuto’s life took place on March 15 around 4:30 p.m., while Rizzuto was travelling in a black Mercedes on Highway 440 westbound.
As he was approaching Exit 17 leading to Autoroute 13, the occupant of a black Porsche Macan is alleged to have fired several times at Rizzuto’s car, inflicting damage on the body and the tires, while also injuring Rizzuto lightly.
The SQ said the arrested suspect is known to police as having ties to organized crime.
According to the Montreal daily news site La Presse, Rizzuto was at the Romcafé on des Laurentides Blvd. in Laval just before the shooting took place. The café was the target of arson in 2017.
The mother of a seven-year-old girl who died under nebulous circumstances in Laval in January 2021 won’t have to serve jail time for failing to come to her seven-year-old daughter’s assistance.
That was the ruling of a Quebec Superior Court judge at the Palais de Justice de Laval last week. Justice Yvan Poulin said the 38-year-year old mother, originally from Afghanistan, had been in a unique situation leading up to the death of the girl who was suffering from mental problems.
Neither the mother’s nor the girl’s name can be disclosed because of a publication ban imposed by the court. The cause of death was determined to have been mostly from burns to 75 per cent of her body resulting from hot water.
The home on Le Boutillier St. in Chomedey where investigators from the Laval Police Department scrutinized evidence in January last year following the death of a 7-year-old girl. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
According to information in the judge’s report, the girl’s younger sister claimed she saw a niece pour hot water on the girl in an attempt to control her behaviour. However, the judge also noted elsewhere that false claims by at least one family member were made to the police.
Testimony in the report suggested that the girl, while refusing to have anything to do with her mother, had violent tantrums resulting in injuries to the mother’s face. Although the mother was charged with failing to provide the necessities of life to the girl, the judge questioned why a niece wasn’t also charged since she had been delegated some responsibilities for the girl’s care.
The niece reportedly explained injuries the girl sustained as being self-inflicted, according to the judge’s report. Prosecution had been seeking a prison term of two years less a day. However, the judge agreed with the defence lawyer that the mother should receive two years of supervised probation, including 240 hours of community service.
Sainte-Rose teen arrested after man stabbed in his home
A 16-year-old girl was arrested by Laval Police early last Monday morning after a man was stabbed at a home in Sainte-Rose.
The LPD said a 9-1-1 call they received just after midnight alerted them to the assault, after which officers arrived at the scene on Rue Blaise.
The victim, identified as a man in his early 50s, was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to an LPD spokesperson. Investigators were expected to interview him, but were waiting for his condition to improve.
The teenage suspect was arrested at the scene of the incident and was expected to meet with investigators. She was also expected to be arraigned at the Palais de Justice de Laval on Saint Martin Blvd. Monday morning or afternoon. Police would not comment on the relationship between the suspect and the victim, although they confirmed she is a minor, but could say nothing more as her identity is confidential under youth protection law.
LPD officer suspended after wrecking police car
A Laval police officer has been suspended for 15 days without pay after he wrecked a patrol car and damaged five other vehicles when he hit a patch of ice while pursuing a suspect at high speed.
A provincial police ethics committee made the decision to suspend Félix Gagnon for the Novemver 2019 incident. Just before 5:30 a.m. that day, Gagnon and a partner responded to a 9-1-1 call about a potential domestic-violence incident.
The woman who called said her ex-spouse was outside her home and seemed to be drunk. The man was known to police as a suspected pimp with a record for becoming violent.
When the two police officers arrived at the intersection of Laval Blvd. and Trait-Carré St., Gagnon spotted a black pickup truck, which was the only other vehicle travelling near the intersection that early morning. Gagnon told the investigators that the driver of the pickup truck saw his patrol car and accelerated away.
A Laval Police Dept. cruiser. (Photo: Courtesy of Blue Line Magazine)
The police chase continued on to McNamara St., where Gagnon travelled through eight intersections at speeds reaching 110 kilometres per hour in zones designated for 50 and 40 km/h. The committee was told there were no other vehicles in the area at the time and there seemed also to be no pedestrians.
When the pickup truck made a left-hand turn, the patrol car tried to follow, but sped over a patch of black ice. Gagnon lost control in a residential neighbourhood and the cruiser crashed into five vehicles parked close to an apartment building. Both officers suffered minor injuries, but the other officer had to take five months off from work to recover.
In the meantime, the patrol car was a total loss, and the five parked cars were left with damage described as medium to minor. The investigators determined the crash was caused mostly by the presence on the street of black ice. However, they also noted the police car was travelling at 118 km/h when it through an intersection seconds before the crash.
Multiple fire-bombings prompt cancellation of insurance and mall lease
A supportive cross-section of Laval’s Lebanese community gathered outside a well-known Lebanese restaurant on Curé Labelle Blvd. in Chomedey earlier this month to show encouragement for the owners who say they are being doubly-victimized after several fire-bombing incidents.
Nuits de Beyrouth, which has been the target of as many as four firebombing attempts in the past eight to nine months, is just one of several restaurants in the Laval and Montreal regions which have been similarly targeted.
Members of Laval’s Lebanese community gathered outside Nuits de Beyrouth on April 8 to show support for the owners who say they are victims of an extortion racket. (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
Standing up to criminals
“We’re all united here to take a stand against what’s going on against all of the restaurant business owners in the Laval and Montreal areas,” Kevin Al-Sabek, speaking on behalf of his parents who are co-owners of Nuits de Beyrouth, said in an interview with The Laval News.
“We’ve been victims of vandalism and death threats against our businesses and the families that own them,” he said. “We’re also here to take a stand against all the choices that our landlords and our insurers have made. We have been here for nine years and we have always followed the rules, always paid our taxes.
“We’ve been victims of vandalism and death threats,” says Kevin Al-Sabek, son of Nuits de Beyrouth’s owners, (Photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
Insurance cancelled
“We paid our insurance company and never made a claim. All the damages that were made we’ve paid out of our own pocket. We never made any insurance claim, but they decided to rescind our policy. The landlord has also put a new lock on the door and is not allowing us in, even though we paid our April monthly rent. We have food and equipment inside, but they’re not allowing us in.”
Police in Laval and Montreal announced in recent weeks that they were working together to solve dozens of cases of violence and intimidation targeting local businesses. Up to March 31, they had arrested 19 people, with possibly more arrests expected.
Victims of extortion
Al-Sabek maintained that Nuits de Beyrouth is the victim of an extortion racket. He said a representative of the perpetrators, whom restaurant management had never met before, walked in one day and demanded money in exchange for protection from unspecified consequences should they not get paid.
“We are not connected to these people by any means,” said Al-Sabek. “They came in, they asked for money. That is the only contact we had with them. They entered, they wanted to sell us protection, we declined the offer. After they came, we reported everything to the authorities.”
‘People come here to be reminded of their culture and their roots’
Can’t I.D. the suspects
Although the owners had a security camera system inside Nuits de Beyrouth, the firebombing suspects managed to conceal their identity by wearing head and face coverings, Al-Sabek added. “We don’t know if this is organized crime,” he said. “Our only hope is that this will stop, because it’s not just us: all of the restaurants in the area are afraid now.”
He noted that since opening nearly a decade ago, Nuits de Beyrouth has become a popular gathering place for many in Laval’s Lebanese community. “People come here to be reminded of their culture and their roots,” said Al-Sabek. “It has become a landmark where they come to relax among friends.”
With its eyes set on reducing greenhouse gas emissions while playing a role in the ongoing struggle against climate change, the City of Laval is planning on passing new by-law legislation that will make it illegal to install cooking and heating equipment fueled by natural gas in new residential neighbourhoods.
Mayor Stéphane Boyer.
During the April 5 city council meeting, council members unanimously agreed to give the municipal administration a mandate to draft a by-law which will impose a moratorium on new natural gas installations.
According to the city, Laval’s residential sector accounts for 6 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Quebec. The city is one of the first municipalities in the province to adopt such a policy. Laval previously made a commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2035.
“We know that municipalities have a first-tier role in the fight against climate change,” says Mayor Stéphane Boyer. “Just as we recently adopted our climate plan, Laval is taking another step forward to reach its targets for greenhouse gas reduction. It’s our responsibility to do more for future generations and I am proud of the considerable efforts by our administration to make Laval a leader in Quebec in the struggle against climate change.”
“This new policy shows the determination by our administration to tackle head-on the climate crisis while turning Laval into an innovative municipality when it comes to climate action,” added Laval-des-Rapides city councillor Alexandre Warnet who is responsible for environmental dossiers.
“Natural gas is not a viable solution for energy transition,” he added. “And I am proud of this new phase in our steps forward towards the carbon-neutralization of buildings in Laval. I hope that this meaningful step will serve to inspire other municipalities to speed up their goals towards becoming carbon neutral.”
Laval switches into spring flood-watch mode
Officials with the city announced earlier this week that round-the-clock monitoring has started on Laval’s waterfronts, especially along the Rivière-des-Mille-Îles and Lake of Two Mountains, as rainfall is expected to raise springtime water runoff to dangerously high levels.
Beginning last Monday, a 24-hour watch had begun. Laval has 14 telemetry stations installed all around the waterfront edge of its territory to accurately measure the water levels as they rise. The stations are calibrated with measurements from previous historic high water levels.
The city is advising property owners in known flood zones located at or near the water’s edge to consult the City of Laval web page for safety and emergency information about measures which can be taken, as well as to receive alerts should rapid flooding take place.
Municipal library to hold annual sale May 5 – 7
Laval’s municipal library system will be holding its annual sale of used and surplus books and other materials from May 5 to May 7 at the Cartier Arena. More than 50,000 items in a range of topics and for many different ages will be available.
Among the items up for grabs will be novels, documentaries, comic book art, encyclopedias, magazines, CDs, DVDs and others. There will be so much, in fact, that stock will regularly be replenished on the display tables.
“Over the past 20 years, the library sale has been something everyone has looked forward to not only in Laval, but also throughout the North Shore region,” says city councillor Flavia Alexandra Novac, who is responsible for the library system.
“This popularity attests to the importance of providing everyone with access to culture, to learning and to entertainment that comes from books,” she continued. “Laval’s libraries do this year-around through the various services they offer.”
Those going to the library sale are advised to bring bags as well as boxes to take away their purchases. Payment will be exclusively in cash or by Interac electronic debit. The Cartier Arena is located at 100 Montée Major, Laval-des-Rapides.
Hours:
Friday May 5, from 4 pm to 9 pm;
Saturday May 6, from 10 am to 5 pm;
Sunday May 7, from 10 am to 1 pm.
Prices:
Books and comic art: $3.50/kg;
CDs and DVDs: $1 per unit;
Magazines: 0.10 per unit.
Administration rejects Urban Planning direct line
Action Laval city councillor for Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Paolo Galati says that during the April 4 city council meeting, a proposal he made to create a new direct line for planning professionals to be able call the Urban Planning Department was voted down by the council majority.
City councillor for St-Vincent-de-Paul Paolo Galati.
“The mayor says he is open to ideas and that he is extending his hand towards the opposition, but the facts say the opposite,” Galati said in a statement.
He maintains that developers, architects and others are seeing the plans they submit to the city for projects being refused, leading to weeks of delays while waiting for reviews. “They tell us that Laval is among the worst cities,” said Galati.
“This administration has no solutions to the city’s problems,” added Action Laval city councillor for Saint-Bruno David De Cotis. “The mayor invites the opposition to submit its ideas to him by contacting his office directly, then refuses the ones we submit publicly. Does he really believe we don’t see through his ruse?”
Action Laval maintains that the city’s delays in its urban planning department are well-known throughout the Montreal region and that Mayor Stéphane Boyer pledged to resolve the situation. “The stubbornness of the mayor has no logical justification,” said De Cotis. “To us, the mayor’s refusal is pure partisanry.”
All-day event taking place at Laval’s Embassy Plaza
The Chevaliers de Colomb’s five councils in Laval have decided to come together in order to hold a Spaghetti Day event that will be taking place on Sunday April 30 from 10 am to 7 pm at the Embassy Plaza on Curé Labelle Blvd.
The Laval Chevaliers de Colomb held a spaghetti fundraiser in 2018 (seen here), but had to postpone further events for three years starting in 2020 because of the Covid pandemic. (File photo: Martin C. Barry, Laval News)
It has been three years since the Laval Chevaliers de Colomb last held one of these traditional spaghetti dinner fundraisers.
Postponed by Covid
Most recently, the Laval Chevaliers held annual spaghetti fundraisers beginning in 2018, but were forced to suspend the practice two years later as the Covid pandemic was getting underway.
However, they were also holding spaghetti dinner fundraisers as far back as the 1980s, according to Chevaliers de Colomb Ste-Dorothée Council Grand Knight Pierre Côté, while adding that members of the Laval Police Dept. eventually took it on as a fundraiser.
Maison de la Sérénité
All funds raised will be going towards the Maison de la Sérénité de Laval, a palliative care facility in Saint-Vincent-de-Paul. At $15 a ticket and with as many as 1,000 guests expected, the Chevaliers de Colomb hope to raise $15,000 for the cause.
All funds raised will be going towards the Maison de la Sérénité de Laval
The Chevaliers are getting the word out about their event through local media, as well as with leaflets and posters distributed at local restaurants and other retail establishments all over Laval.
Members of the National Assembly from Laval, as well as Laval city council members, are also doing their part by spreading the word to constituents.
The Laval Police Dept. announced on Friday that they cracked open an illegal cannabis retailing operation which was based online and sold other types of drugs at the same time.
Stemming from an investigation that began last year after an informant tipped off the LPD, the investigators found cannabis was being sold and delivered to buyers, while being co-ordinated from a website.
Three suspects ages 21, 29 and 33 were arrested. Search warrants were obtained for two vehicles, three residences and businesses in Laval, Montreal and Blainville.
Searches conducted by the police resulted in the seizure of nearly 50 kilos of cannabis, a kilo of cocaine, nearly 20 grams of crack cocaine, more than 700 grams of crystal meth, unspecified quantities of methamphetamine and Xanax tranquilizers, and more than 10 kilos of psilocybin (magic mushrooms).
The additional seizure of illicit tobacco products, as well as two vehicles believed to be used to commit crimes, brought the total value of what was seized above $1 million.
Newsfirst Multimedia political columnist Robert Vairo.
I have never heard so many Canadians displeased, unhappy, and downright disgusted with the state of our country today. No need to chat up the bartender to find out how people are feeling. No need for a survey that tells us that three out of four Canadians believe our country is broken.
“Broken”. That’s the word that is being used. I have never heard of anyone saying Canada is broken before, ever. We all love our Canada, its people and its scenery. But that’s where it stops these days. True, we don’t have the spectacular structures, monuments, temples and pyramids of the middle east, Europe and Asia. But we do love each other, appreciate our countryside, our Laurentian mountains, Rockies, Cabane a Sucre, lush forests, and impressive fresh water lakes. Travelling to our far north provides a spectacular natural phenomenon we have come to know as the aurora borealis.
Do we appreciate our freedom? That all depends on what is meant by freedom. In comparison to North Korea, China, Russia, and Venezuela, absolutely we do. The Oxford dictionary defines freedom as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants with[1]out hindrance or restraint”. We do not have that kind of freedom, not even in Canada, which is supposedly meant to be “strong and free.” We can not say whatever we want without severe push back, and sometimes life-threatening social media threats. It appears freedom is rela[1]tive. It’s not supposed to be. Free is free, free whether it be to think, speak, or act, without libel or defamation of course.
We are free to celebrate and protest with ‘Black Lives Matter” and take a knee next to our Prime Minister, but we cannot condone a protest by the Ottawa truck caravan over Covid’s restriction on cross border truckers. We are not free to criticize Justin Trudeau’s actions. If this Prime Minister does not agree with what you say, you are a racist, misogynist, a flat earth believer, or as Trudeau prefers to say, a “flat earther”. And, you evidently belong to a small, irrelevant gang of right-wing yahoos.
Yes, saying what you think can and will get you in trouble. Saying what we think about the residential schools for Indigenous children is a glaring example. Atrocities were committed, as police and the catholic church tore children away from their mothers’ arms. Violence and sexual abuse happened. But saying many also died because of the deadly tuberculosis disease, rampant in the 50’s and 60’s, can get you fired. For example, teacher Jim McMurtry of the Abbotsford School Board in British Columbia. Fired for speaking out, in Canada. And don’t you dare say there are only two genders, not even in a Roman Catholic school. In a Renfrew Ontario school class discussion about male students using female washrooms, gender dysphoria and male breastfeeding, student Josh Alexander said there were only two genders and that gender does not trump biology. He was expelled and then arrested by two police officers the next day for trespassing. Now I may not necessarily agree with what was said, but it does not matter what I think. What matters is Canadians have the right to say it.
So, you see, we are not “strong and free”.
China infiltrates our governments and elec[1]tions and our Prime Minister is concerned about who leaked this information. Really? Should he not be outraged and act to stop a foreign nation from challenging our sovereignty? Our last Liberal budget was a fiscal illusion. We have amassed more debt under this government since 1867, with no regard to applying a tourniquet to this hemorrhage. Our justice system is a mess with too many repeat violent offenders. Countless shootings and stabbings, and eight policemen have died since last September. Bureaucracy has increased more than in any other government and we all know it is not reflected in the services, at airports, passport offices etc. Conflicts of interest and ethical shortcomings occur almost every week. Bill C-11 will control social media content. Relatives of a minister and a cottage neighbour have been chosen to chair some of the most responsible positions, including one who will oversee a closed-door investigation of China’s intrusion. This is a nightmare.
We are weak and chained. We are not free from incomprehensible tax levies including the trickle-down effects of the carbon tax and absurdly high cost of groceries. We are not free to take home a pay cheque and be able to save. We are not free from galloping mortgage payments, from the ability to buy that first home, to be ill and receive quick attention at any one of Canada’s thirteen hundred hospitals. If you have had the misfortune of visiting an emergency room lately, you have counted the hours waiting. I realize that this is a provincial responsibility, but should there not be federal leadership to help fix what was once an enviable health care system? After all, it is called the Canada Health Act, a statute of the Parliament of Canada.
How are we to have confidence in a government that appoints a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Trust Fund director and personal friend like David Johnston as “rapporteur”. What is a rapporteur? I could guess its meaning but I had to look up this seldom, if ever used word. It is one utilized by a smug and arrogant PM who treats us as fools.
Our oil and gas industry is dead. Bill C-69 prevents any nation building project in our energy rich country, when the world is practically begging for our oil and gas. What nation does that? When Germany and Japan came calling for gas exports, our Prime Minister said no, and preached his pseudo virtues of environment preservation. What an embarrassment. Can we not be strong and free?
The aftermath of yet another business firebombing in Chomedey – this time it was Flysky on Curé Labelle Blvd. (Photo: Courtesy of Laval Fire Dept.)
In yet another firebombing incident impacting a growing number of businesses in Laval’s Chomedey district, firefighters were forced to put out a blaze early Friday morning at the Flysky Lounge on Curé Labelle Blvd. believed to have been started by arsonists.
It was the second time the bar near the intersection of 7th St. was hit.
An initial firebombing at the address also took place in late March.
Around 5:25 am, a witness called 9-1-1.
Firefighters who arrived on the scene within a little over five minutes determined that the establilshment’s front window had been smashed.
At least 50 firefighters were called in and the fire was under control before 7:30 am.
Damages have been estimated at $300,000 for the building and $100,000 for property inside.
The Laval Fire Dept. has turned responsibility for investigation over to the Laval Police as it is believed arson was the cause of the fire.
