Author: Milos Kovacevic

Former personal trainer’s legal saga continues

Rose Tandel has not yet had her day in court, but she’ll get her chance soon.

The former student and personal trainer at Concordia’s Le Gym was supposed to testify Feb. 16, but was sidetracked by a full day of fruitless settlement negotiations. Her court appearance has now been pushed to November 2015.

Tandel alleges her boss singled her out in May 2013 after she refused his request to ask a fellow Muslim colleague to stop praying. What followed, according to Tandel, escalated into false assertions of theft, untrue rumours, and threatening behaviour that was not dealt with constructively by the university. Instead Tandel asserts she was disciplined despite going to three different departments—the Director of Athletics, HR, and Rights and Responsibilities—who neither ‘resolved or addressed’ her and her Muslim colleague’s complaints.

She later quit and launched a $60,000 defamation lawsuit.

She’s also filed a civil lawsuit against her former superior, but won’t be able to pursue it until the case against the university has concluded. The issue is finding common ground, which has so far proven elusive.

One positive note has been that Rayan Ezedin, the Muslim colleague who was told to cease praying, has since come out in support of Tandel and will testify in her defence.

Tandel says she is willing to settle with Concordia so long as the university does not combine the two cases. Ideally she is looking for a clean-up of her record (she had a spotless record up until then) and the ability to exercise again at Le Gym as a student/alumni. She is also looking for a lump sum to help cover her legal fees, which so far have totalled $25,000.

Tandel is accusing the university of using delaying tactics to stall for time and exhaust her financially.

“I feel like this is the same game all over again. Every single time [Concordia says] ‘we want to settle,’ it takes forever to get an answer,” she said, adding that during the whole process her legal team has submitted 168 pieces of evidence. To the best of her knowledge Concordia has not entered any evidence themselves, which makes her wonder why they haven’t settled yet or what their strategy may be.

“I don’t know what their tactics are. I don’t understand,” she said, saying that Concordia should have until mid-March to provide their evidence.

Tandel alleges that in the meantime her former boss has continued spreading rumours about her, something the Labour Board has asked Concordia’s legal team to put an end to.

Whatever the final resolution, Tandel is confident it will go her way. Still, she’s unhappy with the prolonged nature of the fight over what she sees as a simple case of admitting wrongs and moving on.

I want to speak to a judge; I want my day in court and I want Rayan to have his day in court too

“I work in a hospital. When something wrong is done, there’s usually a sense of empathy and remorse. I received none of this,” said Tandel.

Coldest February Ever

Though it may not seem very cold, last month’s average temperature of -14.7 degrees celcius has made it the coldest February on record, beating out previously chilly 1979. According to the Montreal Gazette, who analyzed the weather data, the cause behind the record-breaker was a pressure front coming in from the West Coast, as well as unusually strong winds that added to the wind chill factor. Meanwhile, U.S. records showed January’s temperatures almost invariably went up world-wide, save for a few places such as New England and, you guessed it, Quebec.

Montreal to build path to the river

CBC has reported the news that Montreal will spend $42M creating a promenade along a series of streets connecting Mount Royal to the St. Lawrence river. The project would see the mountain connected by a widened, tree-flanked walkway to the river and would coincide with the 375th birthday of the city in 2017. It will also be more pedestrian friendly, with McTavish street becoming exclusively for walkers. Consultations as well as a design contest are set to begin in June.

Complaint against judge who wouldn’t hear hijab-wearing woman

An official complaint has been lodged against the Montreal judge who refused to listen to a Montreal woman’s testimony so long as she persisted in wearing her headscarf. Rania El-Alloul was in court attempt- ing to get her car back after it had been impounded by the SAAQ because her son had been caught driving it with a suspended license. Aside from widespread criticism, a crowd- funding campaign in support of El-Alloul has already raised over $40,000 for a new car, according to the Montreal Gazette.

Edmonton’s proposed Freezeway

Edmonton residents may soon be able to trade their bikes for skate once winter comes if proposals for an 11-kilometer route of ice traversing the city go ahead. The idea was the result of a master’s thesis by an landscape architecture student and has since picked up some steam, though there are just as many critics panning it as an example of flippant spending amidst more serious issues. The BBC said the city would flood and freeze the flat land hugging two rail corridors to create the skating trail. If it goes ahead the so-called Freezeway would take about 75 minutes to cover with skates and would be lined with skate rental locations.

Hadfield’s space suit bought at thrift shop

A Toronto woman found a treasure most unique when she came across a bright blue flight suit emblazoned with the name of Canada’s astronaut celebrity, Chris Hadfield. CBC reported that the find, which would have surely fetched a much higher price if it has been placed on auction, was bought for a mere $40. Hadfield communicated with the buyer via Facebook and by confirming some characteristics of the suit ascertained that it had indeed once been part of his uniform. How it ended up in the thrift store is still anybody’s guess.

Suspicious tunnel declared ambitious man cave

A suspicious tunnel found near the location for this year’s Pan Am games and Roger’s Cup isn’t the work of terrorists after all, according to Canadian authorities. Rather, the creation was an attempt by two men to create a man cave to ‘hang out in’ according to a police spokesperson. The CBC describes the cave as ten meters deep, nearly two metres high, and about 90 centimetres wide. This is impressive considering the two men, who had no criminal intent nor any engineering training necessary for the construction, started it only in September. They’ve since apologized; their man cave has been filled.

South Korea lifts ban on adultery

A 1950s-era law from South Korea aiming to protect women by handing out prison sentences to adulterers has been scrapped by the country’s highest court after being ruled unconstitutional and unlawful and infringing on the personal sexual freedoms of its citizens. According to a report by Bloomberg Business, the ruling’s immediate consequences were steep increases in the share prices of the country’s leading condom manufacturer, which have risen by 30 per cent over the last two days.

Pakistan to jail those against polio vaccine

The Pakistani government has arrested 10 individuals who refused to vaccinate against polio and is moving to do so with hundreds of others. The country, which according to Vice has suffered a resurgence of the debilitating disease in the last few years, is one of only three in the world where polio, nearly eradicated, is still endemic. Further complicating things, the majority of the outbreaks are located in the unstable tribal regions of the north west, where the constant fighting has seen refugees spread it further and the Taliban forbidding them. They’ve gone so far as to kill 65 vaccine health workers since 2012, according to the New York Times.

Medieval mass grave found under Paris supermarket

The decision to renovate the basement of a Parisian supermarket led archaeologists to uncover an unexpected piece of local history. Some 200 preserved skeletons of men, women and children were unearthed when construction revealed that the supermarket was built on a site that once featured a medieval hospital. MSNBC reports that the remains of these historical Parisians were all buried within a relatively short period of time, possibly due to the deadly plagues and famines that raged the city over the centuries. The medieval hospital responsible for the grave was torn down in the 1700s.