by Lina Harper

The Outgames has been riddled with controversy, ever since the Montreal organizers decided to split with the Gay Games Federation and create a new venture in 2001. Yet however new and innovative the event claims to be, the same old displacement of the homeless, sex workers and itinerants are occurring as another tourist season sweeps into the city. As with many other international events here in Montreal--Jazz festival, just for laughs, etc.--all temporarily take over the public spaces of the downtown sectors of the city every year. These two statements don't really go together. Even though it is a new event, there is nothing there to point to the fact it would be different when it comes to homeless, etc. If the Outgames had a basis in social justice, etc, and that was the reason for the split, then that would work, but it needs to be mentioned.

It is a dangerous practice that has plagued the city each time a festival or international event has taken over the public spaces and filled the cultural calendars for tourist season. One that has been politely called "urban renewal" by some, and more harshly dubbed an "ethnic cleansing" by others who? It would be much more powerful as a complete quote, and in this context seems alarmist. Séro Zéro community outreach worker Sonia (don't give out their last names LH. mention why not using her real name…) says it's typical.

"C'est comme toujours, toutes les étés. Il y a tout le temps plus de repression, plus de police."

And when there's repression, as the old adage goes, there's resistance. Bernard St-Jacques from Réseau d'aide aux personnes seules et intinerantes de Montreal is ready for this summer's Outgames. He admits there is a strained relationship between the social organizations and the city of Montreal. St-Jacques says they haven't had any contact with the Outgames, a solution that could help curtail any major strife this July.

"Tout le monde est aux aguets" he says.

Stella, a Montreal-based sex-workers rights organization, had no comment for Siafu at this time, but a collaboration with the city of Montreal may be the best compromise in order to please everyone--the organizers, the expected 250,000 visitors and the permanent residents, the homeless, the sex workers, the itinerants.

Local resistance is already in motion, however, from local groups Les Panthères roses, the Anti-Capitalist Ass Pirates and media artist collective Volatile Works. The groups hosted an event Friday May 19 in reaction to the Outgames' human rights conference to protest the $525 fee to attend. The local groups showcased an evening of queer videos, music and a strictly enforced entry fee--with tongue firmly in cheek--of 52 cents. The organizers wished to stress the issues of exclusion: the conference fee makes it inaccessible to many locals who could benefit from this colloquium. How can queers use the international human rights model to improve their life conditions without networking with other queers and experts on the model?

While the Outgames' website stresses a mission to be absolutely inclusive of all "sexual orientation, age, gender, race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, physical challenge, political beliefs, physical ability, athletic/artistic skills or HIV/ health status," the mission statement on their website makes no mention of "class" or economic status as a protected category. A Canadian 2001 Census reminds us that Montreal has the highest rate of poverty above all other big Canadian cities.

The press secretary for the 2006 Outgames Pascal Dessureault, says the Outgames wasn't aware that summers in the city see more homeless people and sex workers arrested for minor breaks in the law and thrown in jail during festival season. "We are inclusive to everyone, that's the whole point!" says Duserrault. When asked about the human rights conference and its $525 fee, Dusserault said there were bursaries available to cover the costs of travel and fees, but that there were only available to "third-world" countries until the end of March.

Bernard St-Laurent, who was the mayor of the Quebec suburb of Moisie in the mid-80s and an MP for the Bloc Quebecois in the mid-90s says Montreal's problems with gentrification and poverty are similar to those he has seen Hull, QC. In the mid-80s, the Mulroney government decided to clear the impoverished area of Portage in Hull to build government offices--doing so by ousting the homeless that resided in the neighbourhood.

"It didn't resolve the problem of poverty and prostitution, it just placed them elsewhere," says St-Laurent. "It's a huge masquerade and displaces the problem--it doesn't solve it.

The Montreal Police department and the borough of Ville-Marie were contacted for their reactions, but Siafu was unable to reach the borough representative Pierre Mainville.

Typical, says St-Laurent.

"It'll be hard to find anyone, at any level of the government that will speak about 'urban renewal' because we could almost say that it's… an ethnic cleansing of sorts."

Queerstory

But it's not the first time Montreal will host an international event of this magnitude and financial issues are the other common thread. For Expo67, the now-defunct world's fair, only made back approximately half of its investment, and the 1976 Summer Olympics only cleared its debt on the Big O in 2006. Both international events left embarrassingly decaying architectural sites and, perhaps appropriately, an episode of Battlestar Galactica was filmed on the site of the Expo67 ruins, which resembled a futuristic city in ruins after a biological attack. In addition, the Outgames and the Gay Games will be competing for participants and spectators since a disagreement over financial control left both sporting events made it so the would happen at the same time--the end of July. And since Chicago's Gay Games and Montreal's Outgames have revealed a cornucopia of celebrities for their respective opening ceremonies.

The issue that lies beneath this history of international events is: What will happen to the city this time, as another international event sweeps in and out of the city with its focus on celebration and tourism dollars? What will remain of the homeless and the sex workers that will undoubtedly be relocated, temporarily, with the Montreal's unofficial urban renewal project?

While the city is definitely to be commended for having decided to host the Outgames, their vested interests are to be examined with a realistic eye.

Get set, on your marks, is Montreal ready for the Bear Contest, Masquerades on ice, athletes' parties… pink tourist dollars?

Ps Tim: the police of mtl press rep NEVER answers her phone and has no answering service (?!)