LeCanadian

Top Menu

  • Login
  • Archives
  • Les Actualités
  • Advertising
  • Sexy Pages
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Foodie
  • Headline news
  • Health
  • Editorials
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • UFO · Exopolitics
  • Montreal
  • Sexuality
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Login
  • Archives
  • Les Actualités
  • Advertising
  • Sexy Pages
  • Contact Us

logo

Header Banner

LeCanadian

  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Foodie
  • Headline news
  • Health
  • Editorials
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • UFO · Exopolitics
  • Montreal
  • Sexuality
  • Homing’s In March 26-April 4, 2021

  • 50+ Flirty, Romantic, and Sexy Questions to Ask Your Partner

  • Your sexual assault fetishes are NOT okay

  • Kink vs. Fetish: A Sex Therapist Lays Out the Difference

  • The top sexual fetishes Irish men are into, according to new study

Business
Home›Business›Mile End Ensemble hosts ‘read-in’ protest for S. W. Welch Bookseller

Mile End Ensemble hosts ‘read-in’ protest for S. W. Welch Bookseller

By admin
March 30, 2021
31
0
Share:

On March 13, approximately 100 people lined up outside S.W. Welch Bookseller to celebrate the survival of the business after its owner, Stephen Welch, had announced its closure, and to protest gentrification in the Mile End neighbourhood. 

The “read-in” protest was organized by Mile End Ensemble, a group that formed after news circulated online that the bookstore’s landlord, Shiller Lavy, was forcing its closure with a 150 per cent rent increase. Patricia Boushel, a member of Mile End Ensemble, noted that the neighbourhood was quick to organize upon hearing the news of S.W. Welch’s closing.

“I heard about [the closure] through Taras Grescoe’s Twitter,” Boushel said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “He’s a local writer who took a photo of the ‘for rent’ sign in [the bookstore’s] window and then got the info circulating. A bunch of people started chiming in, especially that it was a Shiller Lavy ‘for rent’ sign. Many of us have watched that company make its way around the neighbourhood in a devastating way. Just seeing that sign was an omen of terrible things.”

Shiller Lavy’s steep rent increase continued to garner media attention, with major news outlets such as CTV Montreal and CBC News picking up the story. Meanwhile, 50 members of the community began to mobilize by holding an impromptu protest on March 1, followed by the official creation of Mile End Ensemble, which then spurned March 13’s “DOES ANYBODY BUY BOOKS TODAY? (A Read-In).” 

The public outcry successfully pressured Shiller Lavy to lower the rent for a duration of two years. Although the attention helped S.W. Welch remain open, Boushel says that the issue of gentrification goes beyond the particular barrier of rent hikes.

“It’s not just an isolated case of a rent hike, it’s a symptom of a really big interconnected problem,” Boushel said. “If we have these businesses that do not have skyrocketing rents, then our groceries can remain affordable. It’s all connected. We’re really acting out of a desire to retain accessibility and equity in our neighbourhoods.”

S.W. Welch is not the first local business to be driven out of the Mile End by gentrification. Boulangerie Clarke, a bakery known for its five-dollar sandwiches, was forced to close its doors in 2015, when their rent unexpectedly tripled after 35 years in business. Café, co-op, and queer space Le Cagibi relocated to Little Italy in 2018 when their rent more than doubled. The former spaces of these small businesses are still owned by Shiller Lavy. Ian Rogers, a long time resident of the Mile End who attended the protest, has witnessed the gentrification of the neighbourhood over the years. 

“I’ve been living in this neighbourhood for a long time,” Rogers said. “It has been about 30 years now. It’s changed a lot over that time, but just over the last 10 [to] 15 years, it started to become very gentrified, especially when Shiller Lavy started buying up so many properties on St. Viateur.”

Mile End Ensemble, Rogers, and other protesters hope that the read-in signals to government officials that action needs to be taken against predatory rent practices.

“[The municipal government] says their hands are tied but they control zoning,” Rogers said. “They control property taxes, they control licenses, they control inspections, and they’re doing nothing. This is one of their core neighbourhoods, but if they do not do anything maybe this next election we will vote for someone besides Projet Montréal.”

As for Welch himself, he is simply happy to live in a supportive neighbourhood. 

“It makes me very gratified to see it,” Welch said. “I live in an art co-op, so I know very well the power of collectivity.”

Post Views: 34
Previous Article

Montreal Restaurants Can Now Offer Takeout Until ...

Next Article

More than a third of Quebec construction ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Related articles More from author

  • Business

    Avoiding Inciting Paralysis by Analysis

    October 18, 2018
    By admin
  • Business

    Quebec says former SNC-Lavalin exec owes $11 million in back taxes

    February 23, 2019
    By admin
  • Business

    Machines vs. cashiers: Why shoppers are so divided over self-checkout

    February 19, 2019
    By admin
  • Business

    Toys ‘R’ Us is preparing to file for bankruptcy, sources say

    September 19, 2017
    By admin
  • Business

    John Summers: Ottawa lawyer linked to premature death of elderly black disabled woman

    January 11, 2021
    By admin
  • Business

    Muskoka cottage comes with 30-day ‘zombie-free’ guarantee

    March 14, 2018
    By admin


AWeber Smart Designer




Popupar Articles

  • Week
  • Month

Week

Sorry. No data so far.

Month

  • Infosys steps up local hi... BENGALURU: Infosys Ltd is stepping up local hiring in...
  • Le canadien CGI va transf... Le canadien CGI vient de prendre près de 11 600 mètres...
  • Great Canadian Gaming Pro... The gambling industry in Canada has endured one of its...
  • Laid-off airline workers... MONTREAL — After being laid off from her job as a flig...
  • Quels sont les nouveaux c... Vividata, la plus importante firme de recherche sur le...
  • Evolution Providing Live... Two new agreements Evolution has come to an agreeme...
  • BDSA Expands Retail Sales... BOULDER, Colo, March 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BDSA...
  • Montreal’s average... Montreal’s average rent for February was down 3% compa...
  • Quebec LNG Facility Gains... Quebec investors made a start Tuesday on filling a yea...
  • MTY Group donates $16,000... The Foundation for Athletic Excellence (FAEQ) has anno...

Popular on The Le Canadian

  1. AgoraCosmopolitan
  2. Agora Publishing Consortium
  3. Le Journal Canadien
  4. Dominion: Food News
  5. LeCanadian.com
  6. The Ottawa Star
  7. Capitalistocracy.com
  8. Agora Books Author House
  9. First Nations Press
  10. Toronto Digital Flog Newspaper

Recent Posts

  • Homing’s In March 26-April 4, 2021
  • 50+ Flirty, Romantic, and Sexy Questions to Ask Your Partner
  • Your sexual assault fetishes are NOT okay
  • Kink vs. Fetish: A Sex Therapist Lays Out the Difference
  • The top sexual fetishes Irish men are into, according to new study
  • Jennifer Lopez & Josh Duhamel Spotted In Dominican Republic Filming Rom-Com ‘Shotgun Wedding’ After Armie Hammer Drops Out
  • What it’s like living with trichophilia – the sexual fetish for hair
  • No, Being Open and Being Vulnerable Aren’t the Same Thing—Here are 4 Key Differences
  • Armie Hammer Accused of Rape, LAPD Launches Investigation
  • How Naomi Alderman’s novel The Power deconstructs the patriarchy

Most Viewed Posts

  • Automated China –Mass-Producing the Future (60,006)
  • Citizens of Italy unleash mass protests against mandatory vaccination law (37,657)
  • Why Investors are Putting Their Money on High-End Real Estate (35,872)
  • Montréal : le cœur battant de la génération Y (35,496)
  • Health: Shampoo Helps Hair Loss Sufferers (34,934)
  • Une Autre Facette de Richard Lipman : Le Soutien d’un Psychologue à la Fondation Fauna (30,737)
  • Introduction To How And Where You Can Trade CFDs (27,958)
  • Canada’s Property Values Rise, In Spite of Signs of Market Slowdown (19,129)
  • “Not Gonna Write Poems” A Poetry Book by Dr. Michael Lee: Could He Be The Next Shel Silverstein? (16,244)
  • Smoking is Still a Problem in Society – But it’s a Problem That’s Being Addressed (14,678)

Visitors

  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Foodie
  • Headline news
  • Health
  • Editorials
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • UFO · Exopolitics
  • Montreal
  • Sexuality