Raise the Hammer Newsfeed - Articles Blogs

No Easy Resolution to Burlington's Naturalized Garden Controversy

2019-09-10T12:00:00-05:00

I have been contacted by naturalized gardeners from Burlington and experts from across the province of Ontario regarding the disgraceful, anti-environmental behaviour of the City of Burlington and its by-law enforcement officers when it comes to naturalized front yards like Antheia's and Paul Raun's.

Dave Bour, a member of Burlington Green, copied me on his letter to the Mayor and councillors. Dave's letter is indicative of many that I was copied on and is re-printed here:

I have to say as a long-term resident of Burlington, I'm disappointed to read of the city's approach to people trying to improve the environment by eliminating their grass and instead planting native plants drawing a collection of beneficial creatures including monarchs, various pollinators, birds and other small animals.

I applaud those taking the initiative to create sustainable yards that don't require a ton of chemicals nor water to survive, never mind eliminating the need for gas fuelled trimmers and mowers which are worse than most vehicles on the road.

Collectively, as a city and individuals, it is time to walk the talk. Some people are going to be upset. The sooner we educate the population on the real impact of climate change, the better the chance we have of mitigating its impact.

I realize it's all vogue to make the declarations right now because a lot of cities are doing it but let's, as a community, really do something about it. Let's make us the number one place in Canada to live as MacLean's declared us recently, not just for their ratings, but a truly environmental conscious place to live.

We need to change our practices at our city parks regarding maintenance and plant choices, make personal decisions to live greener life styles, and challenge those who would complain of the natural preserves people are starting to grow.

Let's stop harassing those trying to do something positive. Every trend has to start somewhere.

Author and naturalized garden expert, Lorraine Johnson also contacted Mayor Meed Ward. Full disclosure, Johnson wrote an article in the 2019 winter edition of Ground Magazine about my fight to save the milkweed in my garden in July 2018.

Lorraine Johnson and Pam Ward's naturalized front garden

Johnson actually met Mayor Meed Ward this past winter at the World Wildlife Fund/Carolinian Canada symposium on native plants and landscape restoration, at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Johnson recalls the mayor spoke passionately about the importance of restoring landscapes and species.

Johnson realizes, "A lot of people see naturalized gardens as landscapes that are neglected and 'let go,' and that neighbours are often concerned about a perceived impact on their own property values. I realize that the issues are complex and will require huge shifts in attitudes and practices.

But we are at a crossroads, facing multiple environmental crises - climate change, loss of habitats and species - and what we need now more than ever are landscapes of biodiversity and resilience. Yet cities such as Burlington are using vague and contradictory bylaws to enforce dominant but outdated and environmentally harmful aesthetic 'standards'. In at least two Ontario court cases over naturalized gardens, the courts have affirmed gardeners' constitutional right to naturalized gardens, subject only to safety and health considerations. Just because someone doesn't like the 'look' of these landscapes is not a good enough - or even legal - reason for cities to mandate conformity to a standard that contributes to the environmental mess we're in."

Johnson has been involved in these issues for three decades and has been helping to draft policies related to natural gardens, including pollinator gardens, in Toronto. She very kindly offered in her letter to speak further with representatives from the City to, "...find a way to enact positive and enabling policies promoting naturalized gardens and to help educate the public about their crucial value and importance."

Once you read the response issued by the Office of the Mayor, you'll understand the bewilderment and frustration experienced by Bour, Johnson, myself and the many others who received the same emailed answer:

Thank you for your email regarding naturalized lawns in the City. In order for the City to do our part in efforts to protect species and help our environment, the City made changes in 2018 to our Lot Maintenance By-Law to allow for naturalized lawns. Our Lot Maintenance By-Law can be found here. The By-Law spells out the types of grass, weeds and plants that are permitted as per the Provinces Weed Control Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. W.5, as amended, on properties.

The By-Law defines a naturalized area as: 'a yard or a portion of a yard containing vegetative growth that does not form part of a natural garden that has been deliberately implemented to produce ground cover, including one or more species of wildflowers, shrubs, perennials, grasses or combinations of them, whether native or non-native, consistent with a managed and natural landscape other than regularly mown grass.' In addition, the By-Law requires that all property owners remove and destroy all noxious weeds from their property, including within naturalized areas, between May 1 and October 15 each calendar year.

There are numerous examples across the City of naturalized lawns where no enforcement action is taken due to the manner in which the lawns are carefully grown, maintained and cared for and where a buffer strip is maintained. The City's By-Law defines a "buffer strip" as cutting all grass and ground cover within three (3) feet of any adjoining property line. Similar By-Laws exist across municipalities within Ontario.

The City receives hundreds of complaints every year regarding the issue of tall grass and weeds as well as naturalization of properties. All complaints are investigated and treated the same under the provisions of our Lot Maintenance By-Law which allows the naturalization of properties. We give all property owners the right to clear and maintain their property to the provisions set out in the Lot Maintenance By-Law.

Enforcement only takes place after all avenues are exhausted by our Municipal By-Law Officers with the property owner whose property has not been brought into compliance with our By-Law. When it comes to enforcing By-laws in the City of Burlington, City staff always try to work collaboratively with residents including educating them about our By-Law requirements.

We encourage residents to continue to do their part to help the climate anyway they can including growing and maintaining naturalized lawns that fall within our Lot Maintenance By-law.

Via email, both Bour and Johnson expressed disappointment that the response was woefully inadequate and failed to address their concerns. Johnson has not received a reply to her offer of help.

Vince Fiorito, Founder of Friends of Sheldon Creek, was copied on the response from the Mayor's Office and has since sent this reply to the Mayor and council:

Dear Mayor Marianne Meed Ward and city council;

I appreciate and share your concerns regarding the city of Burlington's property standards.

City policy in this area is dated, contributes to climate change, environmental toxification and the biodiversity crisis.

My understanding is that Lorraine Johnson has offered to help the city of Burlington modernize city policies in this area.

Ms. Johnson is a successful author and recognized subject matter expert in naturalized gardens with significant experience helping cities modernize their property standards bylaw. I strongly recommend you accept her generous offer to help modernize city policies in this area.

I am also willing to help the city modernize its property standards bylaws and would consider it an honor to assist Ms. Johnson. I own many of her books, including one of her first, The Ontario Naturalized Gardener, which inspired me to cultivate endangered native species and host plants for endangered butterflies over 25 years ago.

I also recommend this working group to modernize city property standards bylaw include a representative of the Burlington horticultural society, which is why I cc'd their general inquiry email account.

I also recommend including city staff who enforce the property standards bylaw in the working group.

I recommend setting a date before Earth Day, April 22, 2020, as deadline to pass a new modernized property standards bylaw, so that the mayor can make a timely announcement.

A very talented wise person has made the city a very generous offer. I strongly recommend that you reply to her respectfully and in a way that unites everyone concerned about city property standards. We want the city of Burlington to be a leader in the effort to fight climate change, the biodiversity crisis and environmental toxification.

It's clear this issue of naturalized landscaping is far from being settled.

Fiorito passed along one last suggestion for the Mayor and council, "We should demand all paintings that the city of Burlington acquires in the future that features landscapes also meet the same standards as Burlington's property standards. No artists in Burlington should be allowed to paint landscapes that aren't dominated by neatly mowed lawns."

Well, that opens up another whole new can of worms and one that would need to include dialogue from the new Senior Curator of the Art Gallery of Burlington, Suzanne Carte.

Gardeners who want to expand or otherwise enhance their wildflower, butterfly and pollinator gardens should remember wildflowers drop their seeds at the end of their blossoming cycle in the late fall, before the first frost. Get yours now from the David Suzuki Foundation in time for planting.

A Tale of Two Crosswalks

2019-09-09T12:00:00-05:00

It's likely that you're aware that there are crosswalks in front of Hamilton City Hall and at Forsyth and Sterling just beside the McMaster University campus representing both rainbow and trans flags.

Even if you are, a quick primer about how they came into existence might be helpful. After Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky tweeted on May 30, 2018 about their crosswalk celebration, Hamilton's Mayor, Fred Eisenberger, tweeted:

I think #HamOnt would do well to steal this great idea & add some color on some of our crosswalks to represent our diversity and add some life to our streetscapes. #HamiltonForAll @KitchenerWaterl https://t.co/YAe2Ku8WHB
— Fred Eisenberger (@FredEisenberger) May 31, 2018

He followed through. The day after white supremacists showed up at the Pride celebration at Gage Park on June 17, 2018, the Mayor passed a motion at a Public Works Committee meeting to have rainbow and trans crosswalks installed in front of City Hall.

By the end of July, 2 new crosswalks were installed in front of City Hall across Main Street West and bridging the parking entrance off of Summers Lane. For what it's worth, this is what the crosswalks looked like when the flags were first painted (photos from early August 2018):

New rainbow crosswalk on Main Street West at Summer's Lane (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

New trans crosswalk on Summer's Lane at Main Street West (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

Both crosswalks at Main Street West and Summer's Lane (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

But just a couple of days after these photos were taken, people were pointing out black marks that had appeared on the rainbow crosswalk, asking why they were there, and questioning if the marks were made intentionally.

Skid mark on the rainbow crosswalk (Image Credit: Ronin)

Community activists, the media, and others kept asking these questions throughout the months of August and September, some providing compelling evidence that there was no way that the black marks could have gotten there by coincidence and therefore must have been deliberate.

On October 19, 2018, just 3 days before the final day of voting in the municipal election, the Mayor announced that there was a sponsor for the crosswalk and that they had given $10,000 over 5 years to maintain the crosswalk.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger poses on the rainbow crosswalk (Image Credit: Fred Eisenberger)

Where are We Today?

The short answer is: nowhere good. After months of violence and gaslighting directed at 2SLGBQTIA+ communities in Hamilton, the rainbow crosswalk in front of City Hall stands as a stark and shameful emblem of civic apathy.

The reason I'm writing this article now is at the urging and with the full support and encouragement of another concerned member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Vilma Rossi contacted me a few days back to express her concern over the defaced rainbow flag.

We met up this past Saturday morning in the forecourt of City Hall to take photos, to talk about the impact of the scarred flag, and to contemplate how the lack of immediate action to repair the damage might be interpreted - especially in the face of the ongoing white supremacist presence in front of City Hall.

It's obvious from current photos that the rainbow crosswalk is faded, pockmarked, and rubber screeched. A dim, faded, reminder of a campaign promise that many read as a pledge to stand up for inclusion in Hamilton.

If anything, it stands out as the physical manifestation of the City's approach to what's happened this summer and a constant reminder of the hate centred on marginalized communities in this city. It's painful to look at and, for me, a visceral embodiment of what it means to be queer in Hamilton.

Rainbow crosswalk faded and covered in skid marks (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

Detail of rainbow crosswalk faded and covered in skid marks (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

More detail of rainbow crosswalk faded and covered in skid marks (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

The Other Crosswalk

Just metres away, two other crosswalks stand in stark contrast to their neglected neighbour and make it quite clear that some of the damage to the rainbow flag has been done deliberately.

Trans crosswalk on Summer's Lane not skidded (Image Credit: Vilma Rossi)

Zebra crosswalk on Main Street West not skidded (Image Credit: Vilma Rossi)

While it's perhaps easy to explain away the Summers Lane trans crosswalk because it's not subjected to a high enough volume of traffic, the same cannot be said for the zebra (white ladder lines) crosswalk just west of the rainbow crosswalk on the other side of the intersection.

The comparison is stark. While the rainbow is riddled with rubber tire marks, the ladder is virtually unblemished (yes, there is a lone skid mark).

Zebra crosswalk on Main Street not skidded (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

It's even more obvious when you understand the location of the white laddered crosswalk in comparison to its rainbow neighbour. The ladder is literally just after the stop line at the light. That means if cars come to a skidding halt, they're going to do that skid right onto the ladder, not onto the rainbow, which is physically situated under the light. Since Main Street is one way, there's no competing traffic to explain this away.

Neglected, abused rainbow crosswalk (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

Are We Looking at a Hate Crime?

Certainly both Vilma and I think so. Not only are the rubber marks intentional but so is the neglect. Leaving this crosswalk in such disrepair sends a clear message to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community that we're not a priority and that equity, diversity, and inclusion are not a central part of the City's mandate.

Much worse, this is right where members of known white supremacist groups stand every week shouting at us, calling us names, and doing everything they can to deny our existence. This neglect emboldens their hatred and gives rise to its prevalence.

If it isn't already obvious, there's a lot more to unpack here.

But the takeaway for me is pretty simple: if the City is going to paint it and say that it matters, then it has to take care of it and make sure that it sends a message of support and inclusion. It's the least this City can do.

It's there now, it's become a symbol, and symbols are important.

It's obvious that the importance of the symbol is not lost on those who take deliberate action to deface the crosswalk in order to demonstrate their contempt for 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.

Letting the rainbow flag remain faded, pockmarked and vandalized says more about the City and its ability to understand what's right in front of it than it ever will about its support for our community. If it can't get this right, there's not much hope for rebuilding the badly damaged relationships that currently exist no matter how many community dialogues are set up because we "have to start somewhere".

Marginalized communities have never stopped doing this work so the suggestion that we "start" completely misses the point.

As I'll continue to say, there's lots of low-hanging fruit for the City to choose from when trying to come up with tangible concrete actions and decades of feedback from marginalized communities to rely on. Now is always the time to act.

Landscaping By-Law Threatening Naturalized Yards

2019-09-09T12:00:00-05:00

August 15, I wrote an article about Antheia, a long-time homeowner in Burlington who has been maintaining a naturalized area in her front yard since 2015. The City of Burlington has repeatedly told Antheia she is in violation of City by-laws despite the by-laws allowing for naturalized areas. According to Antheia, "Every year they mischaracterize my naturalized area as a lawn and demand that I cut everything down to less than 8 inches or 20 centimetres or they will come and do it themselves and charge me."

Antheia's milkweed

After discussions with the By-Law supervisor in July 2019, Antheia was assured her property was being maintained as a naturalized area and was in fact in compliance. One month later, after allegedly receiving many complaints from neighbours, the City sent Antheia a letter demanding she cut everything - all the same plants that were in her yard when the City deemed it in compliance - to less than 8 inches or 20 centimetres. She had until August 20 to comply.

On August 16, while Antheia was exploring options to save her plants, the City cut six feet of her naturalized garden to less than one inch or 2.5 cm in height. No plants were spared and the devastated milkweed were carted away to be composted, undoubtably with Monarch eggs or caterpillars clinging to leaves and stalks.

August 18, I wrote a story about Paul Raun and his garden. Three-quarters of Raun's front yard has been naturalized and is home to over 23 kinds of wildflowers, 12 types of shrubs and vines, three varieties of wild grasses, a sycamore and a redbud tree.

Paul Raun's pollinator paradise

Raun purchased his wildflowers from reputable, qualified nurseries who specialise in indigenous plants. But on August 14, Raun received notice that he was in violation of By-Law 59-2018, which states grass and ground cover must be cut to a height less than eight inches or 20 cm. He had seven days to comply.

Raun made many attempts to speak with the By-Law officer, but finally heard from her the day after the article went online. Arrangements were made for two by-law officers to attend Raun's garden on August 21 to confirm which plants constituted weeds under the by-law.

After learning about what happened to Antheia's garden, Raun took two days off work to keep an eye on his plants.

Not surprisingly, not one of Raun's plants was considered a weed. The by-law officers did voice concerns over a vine growing along the side of the yard and some cypress trees growing along the property line. Both the vine and the cypress trees belonged to Paul's neighbour. No action was taken regarding these two violations.

In his backyard, Raun was asked to move rose bush and tree trimmings further away from his house and to cover them with soil. He complied with this request.

According to Raun, "With respect to the wood pile, it consists of branches from a dead rose bush that had grown along the side of our back deck as well as low-hanging branches that I trimmed off a redbud tree. The by-law officer suggested that I bury it just in case a neighbour complained about it."

Raun says, "With respect to the discrepancy between the original order and the subsequent positive evaluation that by-law officers Ibrahim and Natalie gave our native plants garden, it may have had to do with Natalie's lack of knowledge about plants."

"With respect to the need for a more detailed bylaw related to naturalised gardens, it is crucial to spell out the grounds on which one could have a wood pile consisting of cut branches and how far away it would have to be away from neighbouring dwellings, in addressing the issue of harbouring creatures at odds with the interior of one's dwelling."

Raun also believes, "With further respect, the rule for a two-feet buffer along property boundaries needs refining to consider a variety of potential scenarios. The officers raised no complaint about the wild grapevine growing along our southern fence along with wildflowers and wild prairie grasses spreading right up to it without a two-foot buffer. Why is it acceptable to have a fence running along a property line but not a row of shrubs to which any wild-flowers or tall grasses can run up, albeit kept a tiny bit back?"

Both these situations, and many more across the city, are prime examples of the current by-law being used by neighbours to harass and bully individuals embracing ecological landscaping into complying with the untenable and unsustainable grass monoculture sprinkled with a few continuously flowering hybrid mainstays that still permeates the conservative, eco-unfriendly city of Burlington, Ontario.

Suzanne Carte Changing Art Gallery of Burlington One Inclusive Show at a Time

2019-09-05T12:00:00-05:00

When Suzanne Carte joined the Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB) as Senior Curator in November 2018, it was clear she was passionate about inclusion and embracing as many voices and artistic experiences as possible.

Suzanne Carte

Originally from the West Mountain in Hamilton, Ontario and having worked at the Art Gallery of Hamilton in the late 1990's Carte spent over twenty years in Toronto including the past decade at the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU).

Carte, an award-winning curator and cultural producer, was the former Assistant Curator at AGYU. She had a bevy of accomplishments under her belt, but was looking for new challenges outside of the academic institution. During her time at York University, she was an integral part of students' experiences and worked directly with a multitude of student leaders and organizations focusing on artistic expression and social justice advocacy.

While Carte found room for movement and growth at the AGB she soon realized the position involved merging the old with the new. "I was naïve in the beginning, but had to become sensitive and respectful to the AGB's history and relationships between the gallery and the guilds." Carte is encouraging a younger generation of artists to showcase their talents while still paying homage to the seven art and fine craft guilds.

Carte inherited a wealth of artistic material that had been acquired over the 41-year life of the AGB. By freeing up storage space Carte was able to expand existing galleries. In the process, Carte established the Artist Material Fund (AMF), a grassroots recycling endeavour that benefits artists in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA). The project offers a variety of previously stored materials to artist studios, libraries and youth driven galleries.

The Workers Arts and Heritage Centre (WAHC) in Hamilton, Ontario is one of Carte's favourite galleries because, "The staff are smart, motivated, and practice what they preach. I have immense respect for them." The WAHC stored material for the AMF on their third floor and offered it to artists at no cost during the closing of her exhibition, Division of Labour.

Carte is caring for a collection, as well as a community, that is shifting from the object to the idea with a people focus. She wants to be, "...in a listening campaign. Listening to see where people are at, what they want, and who Burlington is. Listening to the edge of change."

According to Carte, "Burlington looks like how I want my programming to look. Black, brown, Indigenous, queer, immigrant, and intersectional." She hopes more young families and people see themselves reflected in the exhibitions. And she is accomplishing that one show at a time.

Carte jumped in with both feet when she launched this summer's exhibitions. The evening of May 24th Burlington saw crowds like the gallery had never seen before. Jeremy Dutcher, member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, was on hand to sing selections from his Polaris and Juno award winning album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa.

He was also there in support of Vutut Gwitchin artist Jeneen Frei Njootli's solo show, my auntie bought all her skidoos with bead money. Frei Njootli created living art on four huge sheets of steel that morph over time. Shadowy impressions of the hand-sewn beadwork made by the females in her family are transferred to the sheets using grease. These images alter with changes in humidity and temperature.

Frei Njootli performed I am she at the opening while creating another layer of images on the steel plate. The sound of her voice united with the rattling of the metal was captured on a playback loop creating a soundtrack that could be felt through the body.

150 Acts: Art, Activism, Impact also launched that night. Inspired by Canada's sesquicentennial this exhibit offers an essential moment of national reflection and an opportunity to question the relationship of nationhood to Canada's Indigeneity. The art practices are personal, conceptual, cultural, political, and social acts as well as meaningful responses to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action.

Using essential pieces from the Art Gallery of Guelph's Indigenous collections in concert with contemporary art practices that showcase evolving Indigenous art forms, settlers are encouraged to actively engage in discussions around the collective histories and possible futures for this land we share.

Carte is following her superlative debut with no less than four groundbreaking shows.

Opening Friday, September 6, 2019, The Gender Conspiracy will be an extravaganza including a children's drag queen performance.

Billed as an Open Letter to the Trans and Gender Diverse communities in the GTHA to express ally ship in furthering the discourse on gender fluidity and identity, sexual orientation, same-sex relationships, and consent to promote the mental health and safety of all 2SLGBTQIAP communities.

The AGB is determined to be vigilant and visible in their support of 2SLGBTQIAP by placing critical conversations on gender diversity back into the public education sphere.

Carte believes in collaboration with community partners. Gender Conspiracy partners include The Positive Space Network, EGALE Canada Huan Rights Trust, JAYU Human Rights Film Festival, Burlington Public Library, McMaster University Department to Gender Studies and Feminist Research, Dr. Frank J. Hayden Secondary School Position Space (GSA), and Oakville Galleries.

From January to March 2020, Division of Labour: Second Edition invites artists to become part of the dialogue about race, class and labour as they relate to cultural waste. Barter economy systems, community action around consumption, and circuits of solidarity exchange are more present than ever in the daily working lives of artists and cultural producers. Visitors will learn about the scarcity of resources, labour rights, and the lack of living wages in the arts. The exhibition illustrates the power and potential of reused material for artistic production.

Visitors to the art gallery will become immersed in the multimedia collage work of Burlington's senior media artist P. Mansaram when his self-styled Mansamedia is showcased from May to August 2020. Co-presented with South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC), The Medium is the Medium is the Medium explores the artist's decades-long practice of repetition as art, meditation, spirituality, falling in love, and as a way to finding god. The exhibit includes works from Mansaram's five-decade career and will invoke everlasting feelings of travel through time, dimension and territory.

Then, from September to December 2020, Vessel: A Collective Feminist Collection Project will (re)write the matriarchal history of the AGB through the permanent collection with co-curators and collaborators Ness Lee, Su-Ying Lee, Suzanne Carte, Ivy Knight, and Myung-Sun Kim.

The AGB's permanent collection of contemporary Canadian ceramics is the largest collection in the nation and will be used to unpack the feminist history of the AGB with local change-makers and leaders, by bringing the gallery's vessels and containers out of the vaults and into the public space.

This collection considers the implications of feminist knowledge, labour, production, support, and ingenuity while opening a space for cross-disciplinary, intergenerational conversations and critical dialogue.

Carte is successfully crafting an art gallery that is, "A space for intergenerational dialogue, intelligence fed by exhibitions, and a place to socialize, learn and have fun and the same time."

Open seven days a week, the AGB is a free public art gallery and community art centre that presents as many as 20 regional, national and international exhibitors a year. Located on one floor and with gender inclusive washrooms, the space has seven fully equipped studios, three galleries, a one of a kind gift shop, a sculpture courtyard and year-round conservatory.

Throughout the year there are free events, artist talks, screenings, and Sundays there are open studios for families.

The Art Gallery of Burlington, 1333 Lakeshore Rd., Burlington, ON L7S 1A9

The Gilets Jaunes: a Reaction to Progressive Urban Design?

2019-09-04T12:00:00-05:00

I spent the past year working in Grenoble, a city about the size of Hamilton (metro population: 452,000) in southeast France near the Alps. As someone interested in urban design, I was particularly looking forward to seeing how Grenoble's new Mayor, Éric Piolle, was implementing his bold plans to make Grenoble more environmentally sustainable, attractive and inclusive.

View of Grenoble

These changes have included implementing a default speed limit of 30 km/h, shifting road space from cars to pedestrians, cyclists and public transit, and an effort to "green" the city by planting more trees and improving public parks.

He is also building a network of long-distance separated bike paths between downtown and the suburbs ("Chronovélo": 44 km on four routes to be completed by 2020). On the social inclusivity front, they will increase the proportion of geared-to-income social housing from 21 percent to 25 percent of all housing stock by 2025.

Park-like LRT lines in central Grenoble

At the same time, however, France was being shaken by the weekly Saturday afternoon demonstrations and riots of the "Gilets Jaunes" (Yellow Vests). Although the Gilets Jaunes were protesting many different issues - including rising inequality and the reforms of the new centrist President Emmanuel Macron - at its heart the movement was a protest by those living in rural and exurban areas against those living in France's cities.

They were protesting not just against the relative success and wealth of the cities, but against their values. And, in particular, the "green" environmentally sustainable values being promoted by people like Grenoble's Green Party mayor.

La Fête des Tuiles: a celebration of community and environmental groups on the Grenoble LRT lines last June

It turned out that Grenoble was unaffected by the extreme violence and disruption that hit cities like Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse. The Gilet Jaune movement was relatively peaceful and rapidly decreased in size after the initial November and December "Actes".

Cities Are Economically Successful

But the Grenoble Gilet Jaune protests did share one common feature with these others: they were almost exclusively driven by people who came in from the surrounding regions and neighbouring departments, not by the residents of the city itself. They were coming to protest against their fellow urban-dwelling citizens, as much as against the government.

Why did the protesters feel the need to drive for an hour or more to protest in Grenoble (or in Paris or Bordeaux or Toulouse) rather than protesting in their local towns?

Gilets Jaunes meeting in Grenoble (Image Credit: Coline Buch)

One factor is that mid-size and larger French cities really are, in many ways, very successful attractive places to live. And in many cases they are becoming much wealthier than the surrounding rural areas.

Public transport is excellent, infrastructure is very well maintained and they are lively and liveable. Outside of Paris, they are also relatively affordable: it is cheaper to live in Grenoble than in Hamilton, even though Grenoble is a very economically successful high tech hub that attracts a lot of international residents.

Even though Paris is becoming increasingly unaffordable for buyers, it maintains some socioeconomic diversity because it is required (like all French cities) to ensure that at least 20 percent of all accommodation is geared to income.

Contrast With Rural Decline

The attractiveness and investment in cities has paid off, but it has also accentuated the contrast with rural and exurban areas which have seen steep declines in population and resulting cuts in services.

For many rural residents, the cities are another country filled with residents they perceive as "elites" who look down on them and their values. Gilet Jaune protesters often spoke of city residents watching their protests with a look of disdainful amusement. They felt that they were in foreign territory!

This protest by rural residents (not all of them poor) against the cities is an entirely new phenomenon. It is important to note that these protests were apolitical: spanning the spectrum from extreme left to extreme right with many politically unengaged citizens in the middle. Although various parties on the left and right tried to capture them, the Gilets Jaunes remained outside traditional politics.

They are protesting not so much inequality or elitism per se, as the urban/rural divide. This divide in wealth and values has developed in many countries (especially the USA), but you don't see rural Americans travelling en masse to protest in New York, Chicago or LA!

Aftermath of a Gilet Jaune riot Saturday 25 November 2018 on the Champs Élysées in Paris. (image Credit: L. Nicollet)

Motorist Identity Politics

One little noticed feature of the Gilet Jaune movement, especially outside France, is that it is in some ways a protest movement of motorists against policies that they feel disadvantage driving.

The protests were triggered by two reforms: a small rise in the gas tax to reduce carbon emissions, and a reduction in the speed limit on rural highways from 90 km/h to 80 km/h to reduce injuries and fatalities.

Neither of these changes would seem to be that significant - in fact, the second should cancel the cost of the first - but they triggered a wave of outrage in the countryside. They were seen as the unfeeling decisions of an urban elite who didn't care that rural residents depend on their cars.

As we've seen in Hamilton's two-way conversion debate, even in cities, many motorists' self-identity is closely tied to their cars. An attack on cheap and easy driving is an attack on me!

One of the unofficial leaders of the movement, Éric Drouet, is a long-distance truck driver and car tuning enthusiast who posts numerous videos and commentaries on Facebook while driving around the country.

Outside the big cities, the signature Gilet Jaune actions were to camp out on roundabouts, damage photo radars and block autoroute toll booths or make them "free". At one point, about 75 percent of all photo radars were put out of action, which resulted in a big jump in motorist deaths ... which the Gilets Jaunes and motorist groups blamed on the speed limit reductions.

Reactionary Movement

The Bulgarian sociologist Ivaylo Ditchev has even claimed that the Gilet Jaune protests are essentially a protest by motorists against the efforts of urbanites to reduce the place of cars in cities and in society as a whole.

The "war on cars" does not just make their life more difficult and expensive, it strikes at the core of their identity.

He points out that driving is a largely solitary, private activity and that a motorists' movement will therefore necessarily be individualist and lack a clear focus or political structure. It is a reactionary movement of individuals with a range of personal concerns and priorities, not a political movement in the traditional sense.

Almost all the organizing was done at a grassroots level via social media postings (primarily Facebook), rather than actual meetings or through the formation of a political party.

This is clear from the central political demand of the Gilets Jaunes, decided via Facebook polls: the Référendum d'Initiative Citoyenne (RIC). This is essentially government by referendum, with the aim of bypassing political parties and members of parliament entirely and letting the people make all decisions directly and individually.

City Planning and Identity

For those interested in urban design, the most important lesson from the Gilet Jaune movement is perhaps that decisions about city structure and mobility are not just about engineering, protecting the environment or optimizing how we get around. Our feelings about where we live, how we live and how we get around are central to our sense of self and self-worth. They define us.

When the Mayor of Paris or Grenoble states that their goal is to make their city more liveable by reclaiming space that has been given over to the automobile, many people (especially rural or exurban residents) see this as a personal attack on them and their way of life.

When these urban design decisions are actually successful despite overwrought predictions of disaster every time a bike lane is installed, it actually increases tensions, since cities become ever more attractive places to live and work. Those who objected to the changes forget that the city has become wealthier and more attractive in large part because of the changes they opposed.

Here in Canada, the Yellow Vest movement is a very different beast. But it does feed off some of the same anti-elite and anti-urban feelings of the Gilets Jaunes. Somewhat shockingly, the Yellow Vest protesters at City Hall have even used vehicles as weapons, driving a school bus at counter-protesters.

A YV protestor drove a bus onto the sidewalk during an anti-fascist demonstration at City Hall on August 10, 2019 (Image Credit: Cameron Kroetsch)

This doesn't mean we should stop making our cities more liveable, economically successful places. Canadian cities like Hamilton suffered decades of under-investment and decline before their recent tentative revival. And it doesn't mean that we should stop reclaiming urban space lost to motor vehicles for human beings.

But we should perhaps be more conscious of the fact that many people see these changes as threatening attacks on their core values and sense of self.

No Good Reason to Platform or Sanitize Far-Right Extremists

2019-09-04T12:00:00-05:00

For reasons that are unfathomable to me, the good folks at the Hamilton Spectator decided to launch their new print format yesterday with a front-page, above-the-fold opinion column that interviewed one of Canada's most notorious white supremacists - and referred to him in the headline as an "activist".

Detail from Hamilton Spectator front cover on September 3, 2019

I don't understand any of it.

I don't understand why an opinion columnist is writing a front-page article. I thought the front page was for straight news and the opinion pieces were supposed to be on the op-ed page and that news and opinion were supposed to be kept separate.

I don't understand why anyone thought the opinions of a lifelong white supremacist and perennial fringe candidate are newsworthy. Interviewing him just gives him a platform to expand and normalize his hateful, extremist ideology into the mainstream.

And I certainly don't understand why anyone decided that the most accurate way to refer to him in the headline was to label him an "activist".

To be quite clear, we're talking about a lifelong white supremacist and Holocaust denier who advocates expelling non-white immigrants, has celebrated Hitler's birthday, hosted a program on Stormfront, spoke at Ku Klux Klan events, associated with Neo-Nazis Wolfgang Droege, Ernst Zundel and David Irving, was decertified as a teacher for his extremism and was banned from speaking in the Canadian Parliament in order "to preserve the dignity and integrity of the House".

This is the guy whose opinions the Spectator decided were so important that it warranted an opinion columnist interviewing him, putting the interview on the front page above the fold - and then referring to him as merely an "activist" in the headline.

If the Spec wanted to stop short of calling him a Neo-Nazi - even though the label arguably fits - they could have referred to him as an "extremist" or a "white supremacist" or even used his own preferred euphemism, "white nationalist".

But calling him an "activist" is an indefensible slap in the face to every person who spends time and energy working in the public realm to bring about social and political change, as well as a real disservice to the Spec's readers, who deserve clear, accurate information.

I understand that headlines are limited for space. That is precisely why the selection of words that goes into a headline needs to emphasize the most important and salient facts of the story. The most important thing about this man is not that he is an "activist" but that he is a far-right extremist.

I also understand the journalistic imperative to avoid "taking sides" in a story. Reporters try hard to remain neutral about public conflicts, and that means they try to avoid using terms that have a negative connotation. But here's the thing: every accurate term we have to refer to white supremacists has a negative connotation because white supremacism is an objectively hideous ideology.

Whenever a newspaper avoids using an accurate term to describe a hateful extremist, that neutrality bias has the effect of misinforming readers by lending unearned normalcy and legitimacy to the extremist.

It is a variant of the false balance media bias that gives equal weight to opposing sides in a debate when the evidence strongly favours one side over the other. (We see the effects of this bias in, for example, the lopsided coverage given to the global warming debate, in which a small contingent of bad actors funded by the fossil fuel industry receive the same amount of coverage as the overwhelming global climate science consensus.)

To be fair, on September 4, 2019, the Spectator issued a "clarification" on the previous day's headline. See if you can spot it:

Hamilton Spectator page A2 on September 4, 2019

Not quite as prominent as yesterday's blaring front-page headline, and likely to be missed by most readers. Here is the text of the "clarification" buried in small type at the bottom right corner of the second page:

A headline Tuesday that referred to Paul Fromm as simply an activist should also have noted that he is a white nationalist. The Spectator regrets the omission.

It's better than nothing, I guess, but this still falls considerably short of acknowledging just how badly the story went wrong. I certainly jumped on the use of "activist" in the headline, in part because it seems to follow a pattern of minimizing language about white supremacists, but there are deeper questions. Why is an opinion column leading the front page in a newspaper? And why were the subject's opinions considered to be newsworthy in the first place?

During this time of global political instability, rising right-wing extremism and wobbling civic institutions around the world and right here in Hamilton, it is beyond reckless to platform, let alone sanitize, this man's lifelong efforts to turn Canada into a white ethnostate.

We simply cannot afford for the Spectator to play any role, however inadvertent, in the creeping normalization of violent extremist ideology.

Note to Education Minister: Correlation is Not Causality

2019-09-03T12:00:00-05:00

Last Wednesday, Ontario's Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced $55 million in funding for "back to basics" math programs to be implemented by 2020. His apparent hope is that this money will improve flagging EQAO math test scores. He is, as seems to be becoming a trend for Ford government Education Ministers, dead wrong about it.

First, let us consider three statements from Allison Jones' Canadian Press report, Ontario announces $55M to boost math skils.

First: According to the EQAO office, analysis of test results has shown that for most students, "their basic math skills are stronger than their ability to apply those skills." An EQAO white paper from March 2019 [PDF] confirms, "The challenge with mathematics in Ontario may be less about students "knowing" math and more about their ability to apply math knowledge and to engage in related critical thinking."

Second: Education minister Stephen Lecce announced a new "back to basics" math program.

Third: Lecce "blamed declining math scores on the former Liberal government's curriculum, which FOCUSES ON PROBLEM-SOLVING THAT GROUNDS MATH IN ITS APPLICATION." (My all-caps shouting).

To recap: our own government's data shows that students' grasp of math fundamentals is sound, but problem-solving is weak. Our Education Minister's response is to earmark money for more fundamentals, and to tear down the previous Liberal government's focus on problem solving. Lecce has misidentified the problem revealed in his own data, and then chosen a solution that actually exacerbates the problem.

This is either (you may select more than one answer):

a) stupid;

b) part of Ford's ongoing campaign to demonize and destroy perfectly good Liberal initiatives for no good reason other than they were put forward by Liberals;

c) another attempt to degrade public education in an effort to open it up to private enterprise; or

d) pandering to a reactionary base that fears "new" educational strategies because it doesn't understand them.

Further to that, Lecce had the balls to tell the public, with a straight face, that correlation equals causation. (Pro tip: it doesn't. It never does.)

"There is absolute causation," Lecce said without a hint of evidence, between the Liberal curriculum and the decline in math scores. "Concurrent to the introduction of that (Liberal, problem-solving) approach, we saw math numbers decline. So one would have to accept the premise that there is a relationship between the two. What else is the reason ostensibly for such a decline?"

Let us ignore Lecce's gratuitous use of the word "concurrent." Let us overlook his abuse of the word "ostensibly." Lecce is a small thinker with a big vocabulary; this is to be expected.

Let us even ignore for a moment the fact that EQAO test scores did not noticeably begin their decline until 2009, fully four years after Lecce's "concurrent" date.

Let us focus instead on his question. What else, he asks, might be causing a decline in math skills? What else, he wonders, has changed in society since 2005 that could possibly have such an impact?

Well.

We could talk about our wired culture (the iPhone was first released in 2007). We could talk about the rise of child poverty in Ontario (13.8% of our children still live in poverty). We could talk about [the rise of precarious labour](https://cupe.ca/precarious-work-rise0 that keeps parents tense, unstable, and unavailable to their children.

The list of ways the world is different, and childhood is different, and cultural expectations about education are different, is extensive. But - and this is important - nobody is definitively linking any of those things to declining math scores. Why? Because everybody else knows that CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION.

The province that does best on math scores is Quebec. The best guess is that that is partly because of their curriculum (it teaches fewer concepts per year than Ontario's, but in greater depth), partly because of more extensive pedagogical training for teacher candidates, partly because they still have a graduation exam in mathematical competence, but most significantly because of a preparedness philosophy that is distinctly different than that of other provinces.

The BC and Ontario systems, for example, prioritize functional skills - if you know enough to get by in the workplace, you're basically ok. In Quebec the focus is on mastery, not functionality. That's a significant difference.

Equally importantly, the Quebec system is not yet so willing to push kids along to raise credit accumulation and graduation rates. Simply put, you demonstrate mastery or you repeat the course. This expectation shift cannot be overstated.

However, this is a shift that comes from outside of the school system. It is a basic cultural expectation that cannot be changed by a shift in teaching style, a test administered to potential teacher candidates, or $55M in funding for "back to basics" math education, whatever that might look like.

Minister Lecce, in short, is barking up the wrong tree.

The teachers are fine. The curriculum is fine. The kids, as the old song says, are alright.

What needs changing is the way we as a province conceive of education and educators. We now live in a province that all-too-often values the appearance of success over actual mastery.

As long as we pay lip service to learning, test scores will not improve.

As long as administrators prioritize parental wishful thinking and anxiety over student needs, test scores will not improve.

As long as the government trash talks teachers and sabotages the educational system, there will be no buy-in to the cultural shift that would begin meaningful change in our province's math scores.

Until we re-value our public system and the idea of education in general, until we re-engage children to love learning instead of fearing tests, progress will elude us.

What needs changing is the way we as a province conceive of education and educators. We all-too-often value the appearance of success over actual mastery.

Road to the Lemon Grove

2019-09-03T12:00:00-05:00

Writer, storyteller, actor and musician Charly Chiarelli was born in Racalmuto, Sicily and grew up in the north end of Hamilton, Ontario. And, it's a pretty safe bet to say that Chiarelli spent this weekend celebrating the Canadian premiere of his first feature length film, Road to the Lemon Grove.

Poster: Road to the Lemon Grove

Co-written by Chiarelli and Dale Hildebrand, also the director, Road to the Lemon Grove is a delightful movie made up of a surprising number of layers.

Sicilian immigrant Antonio Contatini, played by Chiarelli, has passed away in his adopted American homeland. We meet him standing outside the gates of heaven. Unfortunately, God is refusing to let him in until he reconciles with his only child, Calogero, also played by Chiarelli.

The plot thickens when relatives of Antonio's deceased wife try to keep Calogero from inheriting the family lemon grove in Sicily. That side of the family has nefarious plans for the lemon grove that will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Calogero grudgingly makes his way from his American home town, that has an uncanny resemblance to the Hammer, to the Sicilian lemon grove where his parents met and fell in love in order to spread his father's ashes. Meanwhile, Calogero's cousin Guido is dispatched by the other side of the family to stop him from inheriting his father's beloved grove.

It takes some time for Calogero to realize he has embarked upon more than one journey. Eventually, the linguistics professor comes to understand the importance family, traditions, language and culture play in our lives. He also discovers that he is not so different from his immigrant father after all.

Throw into this plot a kidnapping, a few unexpected romances, incredible scenery, fabulous al fresco meals, the settling of a family feud and you have the makings of a delightful romantic comedy suitable for every age.

Road to the Lemon Grove stars Burt Young as Calogero's uncle Zio Vincenzo, Nick Mancuso as cousin Guido, Rossella Brescia as Calogero's love interest Maria, and Loreena McKennitt as the voice of God. The movie also has fantastic music throughout including one tune by Chiarelli's little sister, Rita.

The making of this movie was clearly a labour of love and one can't help but feel there's a lot of Chiarelli and his own father in this story.

All that's left for this mangiacake to say is, Bravissimo Calogero (Charly) Chiarelli! Bravissimo!

'Road to the Lemon Grove' (88 minutes) premiered Labour Day weekend at 17 select Cineplex Theatres from Vancouver to Montreal where it will run for a week. Hamiltonians can see the movie at Silver City Hamilton.

Leila Live!

2019-08-16T12:00:00-05:00

Cast: Leila
Playwright: Leila
Director: Leila's Mother
Designer: Leila
Show Type: Comedy
Audience: Parental Guidance
Running Time: 60 minutes
URL: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/leila-live/

Izad Etemadi has been bringing his Persian Princess character named Leila to Hamilton Fringe stages for five years now, and for five years audiences have been falling in love with her.

As someone who first met Leila (and Izad) five years ago, it was fun to watch the people in the audience who had never seen her before discover the joy that comes from watching Leila work an audience. Though I have seen Leila's shows before, it never gets boring. Izad finds ways to keep Leila fresh and interesting, while keeping that which is familiar and endearing.

This performance by Leila is a one woman cabaret with singing, dancing, stand up, monologue, tableaux, and cultural exchange moments where Leila shares interesting aspects of Persian culture. Leila self-identifies as a Persian princess from a working class family. This show has a little bit of food, some voluntary audience participation, a lot of laughs and a whole lot of heart.

Leila is a delight to watch and Izad is a pleasure to know. Unfortunately, this year The Cotton Factory only runs shows from Thursday to Sunday the first week of Fringe. But keep an eye out and your heart open for the next chance you get to see Leila and/or Izad as their love for Hamilton keeps them coming back.

"Equity Rules"

2019-08-06T12:00:00-05:00

Cast: Cortnee Pope, Joshua Perry Fleming
Playwright: Jason Sherman
Director: Brian Morton
Stage Manager: Larry Smith
Show Type: Theatre
Audience: Mature
Running Time: 17 minutes
URL: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/equity-rules/

This is my last review for Fringe 2019. The shows only live on in our collective memories at this point. I'm ending with "Equity Rules"

For those of you who don't know, "Equity Rules" is a very short play by Jason Sherman, one of the country's most lauded playwrights, written during the height of his playwriting career in the mid-1990s. The play deals with nudity in auditions, which Brian Morton claims is based on an incident where he was the casting director. (All of this is available on YouTube, including a complete version of the short play by a different production team.)

Morton's version of the play is done well, and the actors (Cortnee Pope, Joshua Perry Fleming), but the reason to see this play is of course that it is put on by Brian Morton, who is purportedly the inspiration for the play.

Is this play a sincere apology by Brian Morton for actions he took thirty years ago, or a exploitative cash grab...or both.

I had an email interview with Morton, and his responses are below. I've cut nothing, so feel free to read at your leisure.

I hope that this year's Fringe has made you laugh and cry and given you a lot to think about. It certainly has for me. Until next year...but you don't have to wait until 2020 to see powerful Hamilton theatre...

Interview with Bryan Morton

Bryan Boodhoo (BB): Why this play now, given that it's been 30 years since the incident and more than two decades since it's been written.

Brian Morton (BM): The idea to do a production of Jason Sherman's play sprung from a conversation I had last summer with local playwright Erika Reesor at the Fringe beer tent. She told me the story of a particular moment in her life that was painful to her. She was angry that a playwright had heard a story about what happened to her and then had written it up as a stage play. She felt ownership of the story, and that no one else should be able to tell that particular story except her. (I won't describe the details of what she told me, as that is her story to share or not share publicly).

I countered with the story of "Equity Rules" and a quick version of what happened back in July of 1989. So we had that in common that both of us had some part of our lives turned into a play by someone else.

I had a full length project that I wanted to do for the 2019 Fringe but we did not get past the lottery. There was still the opportunity to get a 20 minute slot, so I applied and got in.

I had just finished a short play that pilloried Doug Ford for HamilTEN that was my "plan B" for the slot, but in the end, it took just a few days to get the performing rights to Jason Sherman's play. Also, I feel a certain resonance about anniversaries. For thirty years people have been telling a version of the events of July 1989, often a very inaccurate version of those events. I thought it was time to publicly acknowledge what had happened and make some amends for it.

BB: Is there anyone to corroborate that the play is actually about your actions, given that you do not have a relationship with the playwright?

BM: As I keep saying, "I believe" that the incident at Theatre Terra Nova in July 1989 is the real life inspiration behind Jason Sherman's play. But as Sherman and I have never had a conversation about it, I can never know for sure.

I asked him, through his agent, to write me a short program note, and this is what was sent to me.

Many years ago a friend of mine told me about a recent audition experience of hers: she had been asked by a director to prove her mettle for a particular role by exposing her breasts. My friend declined the invitation, pointing out that there were union rules around such things, and that asking her to remove her shirt and bra on the spot (and with only her and the director in the room) ran counter to those rules. Rumours soon began to circulate that the director was at it again, only this time with non-union women, to whom the written code of conduct did not apply. I wrote the play, in one outrage-fuelled session. It came out whole cloth, and I haven't changed a word since. Sadly, I haven't needed to.

Jason Sherman

From what he wrote, I can only assume that his friend was one of the seven women, or three men, who were part of the callbacks for "Unidentified Human Remains", in late July of 1989.

Another reason why I believe that I am the real life inspiration behind the play has to do with my production of Marlene Meyer's play "Etta Jenks", on the stage of the Tarragon MainStage in June of 1993.

Jason Sherman was the playwright in residence at the Tarragon, at the time. I was in and out of the building for three and a half weeks and always thought it likely that someone told the story to him at the time.

Also, "Etta Jenks," a feminist play about pornography, was sexually explicit, and we went to great lengths to cast it correctly, and without a repeat of the mistakes that I had made back in 1989. The one thing that I have never, ever repeated was asking anyone to disrobe as part of an audition for a play.

I now think it grossly unfair to ever ask someone to do that, unless you have actually cast them in the play. I do not like holding auditions in general, and prefer to just reach out to actors that I know and have worked with before or actors that I have seen in a production that I liked. Being a local drama critic means that I get to see quite a few productions every year.

In fact, to this day I still put "No one will ever be asked to disrobe as part of the auction process" on the bottom of every audition questionnaire for plays that I direct. Despite this, actors often come in to audition for me with a great deal of trepidation.

The Globe and Mail published an article in June 1993 about Nudity in the theatre as a trend. Both Sky Gilbert and I were interviewed for the that article. There are a few references in Sherman's play, that seem, to me anyway, to be sourced from that article.

Finally, there is the timing of the play. It debuts as part of the Tarragon Spring Arts Fair in March 1994 as an "office play" performed in Andy McKim's office. That is nine months from when I had been working in the Tarragon Space. I did not see it, although Trevor Copp mentioned that he had attended that production in 1994. That cast ended up being a part of a short film adaptation of the play that Sherman directed for BRAVO a few years later. It is up on youtube if you want to see it. It is much shorter then the stage version, which I think magnifies its impact, when you watch it.

Here is a Youtube link to the video.

I first encountered the play when it was remounted as part of the 1999 Summerworks Festival in Toronto. There was a preview about it in NOW Magazine and I was shocked to discover that it seemed to be retelling the story. I saw the play, which was performed at the Tarragon Extra Space. I sat in the third row and basically had a mild heart-attack while watching it.

But all of these years later, if someone was going to write a play about a painful moment in my own life, then I am grateful that the writer was someone as talented as Jason Sherman is. There are many layers to the script, and while it does eventually come down on one side of the issue, it presents more than one point of view on the scenario.

Why should we do Canadian plays from twenty five years ago? Hopefully, because the still have something to say about the present day. I was the artistic director of a theatre, that only did the work of Canadian playwrights. I have read a huge number of scripts by Canadian writers, particularly those who were active in the 1970s and 1980s. Thos[e] plays are rarely staged anymore, which I think is a real loss.

BB: How did you get the rights to this play, given that you are the real life inspiration for the villain character?

BM: I got the rights to the play the same way that anyone else would get the rights to it. By emailing the author's agent and presenting a production proposal listing the number of performances, the specific dates, the seating capacity of the venue, and the proposed ticket price. That leads to "a quote" for what it would cost, which I accepted, and then you write them a cheque. You sign a contract that details billing and what must go in the program.

I am legally obligated to always include Jason Sherman's name next to the title of the play - i.e. "Equity Rules" by Jason Sherman. There is a $500 penalty if I fail to do that. I also cannot make any changes to the official text of the play. So what I presented, as part of the Fringe, is Sherman's version of what happened, which in the end is a work of fiction.

The decision to "out" myself, as the "asshole" director in the play came much later, when we started promoting the production and I recorded a video for the CBC. I was hesitant about playing the role of "Bill" myself, although I toyed with the idea for a bit. In the end, I think it was a much better idea to give the opportunity to Joshua, who did a lovely performance of it.

YouTube link here.

That script for the video then became the core of the 90 second commercial at the Fringe launch. I also talked at length with Carissa and David on the Notapom Podcast about this. I have made the decision to be as honest as I can, about all of this, although it is not easy for me, and at times I have gotten quite emotionally overwhelmed while doing it.

BB: How does the fact that you're staging this play make things better for women in the industry?

BM: I think is a valuable play for women in the industry to see, as it allows you to ask yourself what would you do in that particular situation. Also, as since the Harvey Weinstein scandal last year, there was been a very important conversations going on about male privilege and the control of casting authority in the industry by men. There are relatively fewer female directors, particularly in the film industry. Anytime you deal with projects that involved nudity or sexuality, these conversations about what is and what is not acceptable come up.

ACTRA puts out a "survival guide to Nudity" for its members. As a film is a permanent record, it is perhaps more vital that people have knowledge of what to expect.

BB: Why should you ultimately be rewarded with ticket sales, if indeed you were the impetus for the play?

BM: I am the easiest person in the world to get a comp out of, so believe me, this project was not about making money. We were the very first company to share an artist password to the closed Fringe productions group, as I wanted people to see the work.

I suspected that certain members of the theatre community would choose not to attend the production, and I found them to be the exact same people who did not attend "UNDER THE APPLE TREE" last year up at the Zoetic.

We were the second highest grossing production in the Hamilton Fringe festival in 2018; only B!TCH ISLAND outsold us, and there are no prizes for second place.

I have some insight, as a result of these experiences, of how poorly actors can get treated. The play is a "cautionary tale", a warning, if you like.

None of the six productions in the Tourism Hamilton space, an all-new venue for the Hamilton Fringe, did very well. MY BREAST SELF, which won best in Venue, and Mark McNeil's HAMILTON FOR BEGINNERS, based upon anecdotal evidence, did the best. But I think all of us played to smaller houses than we would have liked.

I brought in my own sound, lighting and curtains to make the space more theatrical to perform in. I think it helped the other productions in the space.

I put the lack of audience down to a few factors. So I did not think that anyone objected to the content of the play itself.

There were 58 shows in the festival in 2019 - so there was lots of competition for an audience. Also the Fringe raised the prices on the mini-series shows to $9, from last years $8. I am Scottish, by cultural background. So if a regular hour long show is $12, then a 20 minute one should be $4, in my mind.

I know the Fringe organization just wants to help artists make money, but in this case, I think that it may have pushed people away from these smaller shows. I would like to see an $18 one day mini-series pass that gets you into all of the shows in a single performance day.

I have not seen a final box office talley for the show, but I know that it did not meet its production expenses. There was a small loss ($300?) in producing it.

My best guess at this point is that 75 people saw "Equity Rules", an average of about 10 people per show. I will contrast that with just a single performance of "UNDER THE APPLE TREE" last summer that had 185 people in the seats.

BB: Did you consider donating the profits from the show?

BM: Again there must be a profit in order to donate it to anyone. Had there been any profit, it would have gone to my two actors. I am so grateful to Cortnee and Joshua for taking on this project, I literally could not have done it without them.

Clit Wit! A Feminist Rude Awakening / Shoddy Feminist

2019-08-06T12:00:00-05:00

Cast: Colette Kendall
Performer/Playwright: Colette Kendall
Show Type: Comedy
Audience: Parental Guidance
Running Time: 60 minutes
URL: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/clit-wit/

If you've never seen a show by Colette Kendall, the steady hand behind the Staircase Theatre, among other things, you may be in for quite a shock. There are graphic descriptions of sex, and not just regular sex - it's pretty inventive intercourse, on the raunchy scale close to John Waters, Sky Gilbert or Margaret Cho.

But really, did you expect to bring your children to a show called "Clit Wit!"?

Kendall is a master storyteller, who has developed her comic timing by countless shows on the fringe circuit and beyond. Her experience shows and she's able to keep the pace moving along very well. She uses multimedia very well. It never feels like a power point presentation, but rather the screen is used to enhance the acting, and probably give Kendall a few seconds of rest in-between scenes.

There's more to the show than just being funny. Kendall connects to her childhood and what it was like to grow up as a white female in Ontario. And, yes, she acknowledges both her disadvantage as a female and her privilege compared to other marginalized groups.

I was most impressed by the way Kendall balances a lot of different forces, thoughts about gender, comedy, and personal history, just to name a few. This is not an easy task, and it's well done. With fringe over, you've missed your opportunity to find this show at the festival, but if it's anything like her previous shows, then you should keep an eye out for it when it comes back.

Back Home

2019-08-06T12:00:00-05:00

Playwright/Director: Tien Providence
Producer: Malinda Francis
Cast: Jennah Foster Catlack and Dayjan Lesmond
Show Type: Theatre
Audience: All Ages
Running Time: 58 min
URL: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/back-home/

I saw this show on the last day of the Fringe, and there were a handful of people in the audience. The show was well done and deserved a better audience, but there were a lot of reasons it didn't get it.

The play itself is about an alcoholic father who has lost custody of his child and we watch his life slowly unwind. This isn't exactly light summer fare.

The play is well written and competently directed by Tien Providence, and the acting is well done by both Dayjan Lesmond playing Forbes the father and Jennah Foster Catlack playing the daughter, Keenya, and the Judge. However, Lesmond's concentration on his accent seemed at points to get in the way of his acting. Also, given that Lesmond and Catlack are close in age, it was harder to believe that they were father and daughter, especially given that Catlack was playing a fourteen-year old girl.

What sets this play apart is that it's a Caribbean story. And it's the first time I've ever seen a Caribbean play at the Fringe, which is particularly important to me being of Caribbean descent. This is the most important thing to know about this play, so why am I writing about it in the fourth paragraph of my review?

Why am I burying the lead? Quite simple, because this theatre company did just that. The only clue that this play is from the Caribbean or deals with Caribbean issues is the picture of dominos as their Fringe image and perhaps the names of the characters in the description (and that's a big assumption one would have to make). The description of the play states the following: "She watched as He misquotes Shakespeare in a staggering, stuttering ode to love and remembers his drunken behaviour in family court." Although this did happen, this isn't really the reason why you would see this show.

The play itself has been around since 1997, although I had to dig for that fact on the company's website. I'm not sure what the theatre company's connection is to Hamilton (their website states that they "are looking to populate the stages of Toronto Theatres"), but it could undoubtably be strengthened. I certainly am not the only person in Hamilton of Caribbean descent craving to see that content on stage.

In the end, the play seemed rushed to production, with one of the leads not even appearing on the Fringe's website, and no unifying brand for the show.

If there's one lesson that Fringe teaches us it's that producing a piece of theatre isn't just about getting actors to learn their lines and act, getting the script down and getting all the lighting clues - although those things are fundamental - it's also about finding your audience, sometimes one body at a time.

If that seems like too much to ask, consider the alternative, which is having worked quite a bit on the technical aspects of the show, only to have a handful of people in the audience for closing. No doubt the actors and other theatre creators were a little dismayed. I've been there; I've felt it.

There's always next year...but there's always a next year. I hope that Things Fall Apart theatre manages to connect to its audience so that at some point next year becomes this year.

THE EASTER BUNNY

2019-08-06T12:00:00-05:00

Show Type: Theatre
Audience: Mature
Running Time: 60 minutes
URL: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/easter-bunny/

Admittedly, I expected to hate this play. Now Magazine gave this show one N out of five when it was at the Toronto Fringe last year, and Tommy Jeff McAteer's previous play "Headless/The Play" was called a "mess" by My Entertainment World and given an "F".

I wasn't just worried about the quality of the play, but also its content. The play is billed as allowing the audience to "share in the inner thoughts of serial sexual predator". Additionally, McAteer did not attach his name to the show at Hamilton Fringe. Nor is anyone else attached to the show, other than the nameless Marbles Theatre. I braced myself for what I thought would be a misogynistic rant.

I planned to write about the question of whether this show was so "bad" that it shouldn't be at the Fringe. (And the answer is yes, McAteer deserves to be there, like any other theatre artists who puts their sweat and money on the line to make theatre). However, that's not what this review is about.

Why? Because the misogynistic rant I was expecting didn't come. In fact, from the beginning McAteer acknowledges the nature of his show and its ability to re-victimize people, and he goes out of his way not to exploit the victims. Additionally, through the show and the program, McAteer addresses a number of academic resources about sexual assault.

McAteer has something to say, but here's the problem: the show is so convoluted it's hard to determine exactly what that is. Added to that, there are times when McAteer seems to be on a journey and the audience is not following him.

Case in point, McAteer brings three knifes on stage with different neon coloured handles. He takes turns yielding each of them and waving them at the audience in a very excited way. I was much too concerned with my personal safety from a potentially flying knife to pay attention to what McAteer was saying. By the end of the show, it was never explained why there were three knifes on stage, as opposed to the more obvious choice of just one.

There are many more examples of this, but needless to say, McAteer would benefit from the help of a quality dramaturg and director, if he continues to create theatre. With the number of academic references in his program, I was left to wonder if McAteer was looking for an intellectual conversation about the topic of sexual predators rather than putting on a theatre show. Theatre, at its heart, is supposed to make you feel and McAteer appears to be well aware of the injustice of making his audience feel like it's the victim of a sexual predator.

Fringe isn't always about ticket sales and awards. It's supposed to be a sandbox to allow theatre creators to grow, and to this end, the measure of success may be what an artists has learned over the course of the Fringe. Although THE EASTER BUNNY is confusing, and has a large number of technical flaws, there's a lot to think about and learn from this piece from everyone involved.

My Breast Self

2019-08-06T12:00:00-05:00

Cast: Emanuela Hall
Sophie: Emanuela Hall
Playwright/Director: Emanuela Hall
Show Type: Theatre
Audience: Parental Guidance
Running Time: 15 minutes
URL: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/my-breast-self/

I saw a version of My Breast Self earlier this year at the HamilTEN festival. It was powerful then, but it did seem to get a little lost in that festival, sharing the stage with a number of shows that had very different tones.

Since then Emanuela Hall, as triple threat actor/writer/director, has expanded the play a little and pulled her own audience. When I saw the show, the house was packed, and she did go on to win best of venue at the Fringe, meaning she sold more tickets to a gallery show than anyone else.

The story itself is a self-examination of breast feeding. It honest and raw, and struck a chord with many around me, who were mostly made up of people who looked like they had already been through the breast-feeding stage of parenting. Indeed, this seemed to be the target audience. Indeed, there is a demand for these stories to be told, and there are only a few shows that keep this audience in mind at the Fringe.

Hall's acting is very good. She has great stage presence, and the story telling always seemed authentic. We'll see what's next for Hall. She's certainly one to watch.

Hamilton for Beginners

2019-08-06T12:00:00-05:00

Cast: Mark McNeil
Show Type: Comedy
Audience: All Ages
Running Time: 20 minutes
URL: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/hamilton-for-beginners/

Mark McNeil came to Hamilton from Toronto in the 1990's pre-dating the current wave of Toronto emigrants. He originally moved to Hamilton for work, namely to be a report for The Hamilton Spectator. Needless to say, he's seen a lot. He also has the benefit of being both an insider and outsider to the City.

Through storytelling and songs with his ukulele, McNeil entertains the audience with nostalgia about Hamilton, and reminds us what a truly bizarre and beautiful place this is, be "the biggest small town on the planet".

Kudos must be given to McNeil for not only rendering a completely entertaining performance, but for also giving us a show that perfectly matched the format of the gallery series. At twenty minutes, this was the right about of nostalgia. Any more, I'm not sure I would have had such a sympathetic view of the ukulele. And less, and I question whether it's worth my time and money to come to this show.

Hamilton for Beginners is more a whimsical presentation about Hamilton, but it is very much enjoyable and worth watching. It is always nice to see our City reflected in our culture.

Clit Wit! A Feminist Rude Awakening/Shoddy Feminist

2019-08-06T12:00:00-05:00

Cast: Colette Kendall
Performer/Playwright: Colette Kendall
Show Type: Comedy
Audience: Parental Guidance
Running Time: 60 minutes
URL: http://hamiltonfringe.ca/shows/clit-wit/

I can't remember a time when I was not influenced by feminism. Shirley Chisholm, Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan (my Mum read The Feminine Mystique) were household names when I was graduating high school. These woman with others formed the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971 and their influence is still felt today.

Those of us who grew up in the "burn the bra" movement became inspired again with the recent Me too and other women's gatherings. It's like we are earnestly recovering what got us all fired up in the first place. Clit Wit embraces the ideals with a sense of realism which were not a free pass for all and failed often women of colour and the LGBTQ2S communities.

The main stage provides the opportunity to use the large screen and for the most part Colette uses it to an advantage. The audience moves into her active imagination on ripples of calm blue like the lapping of water on the shores. Visuals are often tricky and like using a prop or an accent, consistency becomes key.

Kendal delivers her memories with rapier wit, from the perils of pubescence to maternal madness. Squeezed between her mother and daughter, she claims her space in what we refer to as the sandwich generation. There is an internal dialogue here that draws on her own understanding of feminism and where it intersects with both her mother and daughter.

As a fledgling, her daughter is about to embark on her own life and the wisdom imparted is just as important to the Mom as it is to the grown child. The audience gets this and many of us can identify with the growing pains of fighting for our own autonomy.

Letting it all hang out, Colette reveals every grey hair earned and she is damn worth it, contrary to what the beauty industry has to say. Colette stands out as not only a great comedian and writer but a guiding force among women in the community. New emerging writers benefit from her mentoring and encouragement.

The Staircase was a showcase to "must see" acts in this years' Fringe, for which in no small part Colette is responsible. This venue was always a buzz of gathering, conversation and cold beer on a hot day.

Clit Wit demonstrates a woman coming to terms with a new chapter in her life, much like previous Fringe performance The Cockwhisperer, which makes one ponder what Colette has in store for her audience in the future. I want to be there.