Community
The story behind Avenue Joseph-Vézina
STREET VIEWS
This street is named in honour of Joseph Vézina (1848-1924), a conductor, composer, organist and music professor who was born in Quebec City. His first music teacher was his father, François Vézina, a house painter and amateur musician, who taught him to play the piano.
MEMORIALS AND THINGS OF FAME
Anti-racism report receives mixed reviews
On Dec. 14, the Groupe d'action contre le racisme (GACR), a committee of MNAs assigned by the Legault government in June to address racism in various aspects of Quebec society, presented its final report. The 54-page document contained 25 recommendations for future government policies aimed at reducing the impact of racism and improving living conditions for Indigenous people.
Scott Griffin recalls being spy novelist le Carré’s Canadian “pilot”
Of all the places John le Carré took readers in his two dozen or so spy novels, only once did he make an extended stop in Canada. That place was Espérance, a bustling gold mining town in Quebec’s Abitibi region.
Spelling out a true threat to the French language in Quebec
COMMENTARY
The Quebec government wants to ring in 2021 by tightening language laws to shore up the perceived erosion of French usage. Instead of auld lang syne it will be, with apologies for flippancy, an old language whine, so to speak.
Medicago has new boss as vaccine trials progress
Quebec City’s own coronavirus vaccine contender has a new boss. Medicago announced earlier this month that Takashi Nagao is taking over from Dr. Bruce Clark as president and chief executive officer of the company.
Local researcher tracks nationwide COVID data
As of Dec. 21, Canada had recorded 14,228 known deaths from COVID-19. At least 11,041 of those deaths (77.6 per cent) were among people living in long-term care facilities. That number doesn’t come from a federal government source, but from records manually compiled by Quebec City writer and podcaster Nora Loreto.
The best Christmas present ever!
On Dec. 14, Gisèle Lévesque, 89, became the first person in the Capitale-Nationale region to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. As of Dec. 21, 4,831 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Quebec.
Bonus Episode: The Podcasters
GASPÉ TALES
Expatriate Gaspesians stuck far from the peninsula this holiday season will be able to have a bit of home in their headphones, thanks to a new podcast series launched by New Richmond-based historian Tom Eden in partnership with Vision Gaspé-Percé Now and Canadian Heritage.
Report aims to build bridges between province, anglos
Just over a year after the Secretariat for Relations with English-speaking Quebecers concluded a monthslong round of consultations with English-speaking community groups across the province, takeaways from those consultations have been compiled into a publicly available report, entitled Building Bridges.
