Behind The Curtain (9 June, 2023)
Accessible Audio read by Jason C. McLean
New York City’s air turned orange, obscuring the view of Manhattan from Brooklyn, and causing the photosensitive street lights in Central Park to turn on at 2pm. Ottawa and Toronto residents hunkering down on an otherwise fine summer day to avoid breathing the hazardous atmosphere. Horrific scenes of fires raging out of control in northern Quebec, and online as well, with some rightfully placed call-outs of climate change, while others on social media, in politics, and in the press, jumped down various conspiracy theory rabbit holes and even blamed Canada, South Park style…but for real. Montreal was once again at the centre of an international climate and weather media story. Only this time, we were more like the centre of a St-Viateur bagel (just as I was during the recent ice storm, the last time I used this exact analogy).
Our island wasn’t completely spared. Environment and Climate Change Canada put us under a smog warning Monday and only lifted it Thursday morning. For the first two days, we were at Level Seven, meaning everyone should limit going outdoors, and people with existing lung or heart issues should avoid going out entirely, if possible. For me, the air did smell a bit off, at times, but I didn’t think about it until someone pointed it out to me. Of course, I didn’t spend that much time outside those days, but my window was open. Then it rained, and the air quality improved, by how much, I’m not sure (I didn’t check the reports that day), but Wednesday night I was out and about, and the air didn’t feel any different than last week, or at any other time.
In the middle of my complacency, I got a message from a tourist from New Jersey in my other line of work (no, I don’t just write one article a week and do nothing else). She was considering canceling her trip to Montreal, after having seen news reports on the wildfires. She asked me if businesses here were closing because of them, and if we would be operating on the weekend. At first, I did a double-take. What? Was this going to be a thing? I have stuff to do this weekend! Everything seemed normal, but then again, wildfires are rare in Quebec, so this was my first time at this particular rodeo. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, but, after a bit of reflection, I totally get why some who don’t live here may think otherwise and fear the worst.
Montreal being spared the brunt of this does not make logical sense for many who don’t live here. For Americans who don’t grasp how vast Canada is, when you say Northern Quebec, they probably picture fires raging just a bit north of Montreal, like in St-Saveur. It also seems odd to me that devastation in Northern Quebec can give New York the dystopian tint that so many filmmakers have tried to achieve over the years and failed, while us in Southern Quebec are hanging out in parks and going to shows like nothing out of the ordinary is happening. Effectively, as one tweet I saw (but forgot the author) said: the best way for northeastern Americans to escape Quebec wildfire devastation is to come to Montreal.
The reason this seems strange to me is because I’m not a climate expert, or even a meteorologist, though after three posts talking about the weather, I think I’m becoming one. (Editor’s Note: No.) It comes down to the fact that wind patterns are strange. (Editor’s Note: Definitely not a meteorologist.) This reminds me of the time last year where I got a severe thunderstorm alert on my phone at 5:30pm and it only started raining here at 1am, while around Montreal, in Quebec and parts of Ontario, there was devastation. Basically, we got lucky with the wind patterns this time.
Of course, not everyone realizes that winds don’t care about artificial human constructs like national and provincial boundaries, which is why I’m sure the fact that Montreal was pretty much spared is adding fuel to the fire of conspiracy theories. Never thought I’d see Montreal and Quebec politicians mentioned in a Breitbart article, like the one that showed up in my Googling for this post, but here we are. I guess they think that this is all some elaborate plot by Justin Trudeau, Greta Thunberg, and China to get Americans driving electric cars, but not Teslas, cause that set is cool on Elon now. Seriously, I don’t understand their (lack of) logic, but what I do understand is that over 200 fires are still burning a few hours north of here, thanks, in large part, to climate change. They are destroying lives and communities directly and causing problems for our neighbours. While I’m happy Montreal was spared, and I can go about my weekend as planned, it’s important to remember that others weren’t, and aren’t, so lucky.
NOTES THIS WEEK
Open Space Open Mic:
I mentioned above that people in Montreal were still hanging out in parks, and going to shows last week. On Monday night, some were doing both activities. I’m talking about Open Mic in Jeanne-Mance Park which Naghmeh Shafiei wrote about in our MTL Event Series. It happens every week during the summer. I don’t live a ten minute walk from that spot anymore, but this looks like a real fun way to spend a Monday evening, so I may very well jump on the metro one of these days and kick off the week by chilling out with some tunes in a beautiful park.
No Help Required:
On Wednesday, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante was surprised, to say the least, that Quebec Premier François Legault rejected her offer to send Montreal firefighters to join those from New Brunswick, the US, and France already helping to put out the wildfires in the north. Legault claims that there is a limit on the number of firefighters without special forest fire training that they can accept. While that makes sense, sort of, it’s still interesting that we’re opting to fly people across an ocean, which isn’t great for climate change, than bringing some up from the largest fire department in the province.
Fringe Report:
The Fringe officially kicked into high gear on Thursday. I’ve already seen two shows, with three more to go. You can read all of my reviews , and those of the rest of our team, this coming Tuesday. But you can also let us, and the world, know about how your Fringe is going. Plug a show, comment on your experience, or just share an observation. We’ll be publishing these Fringe Diary entries on our Instagram, and you can submit along with your name, or anonymously! Hmm, I might just leave one myself. It’s like how Mark Hamill anonymously voiced a completely different character in the same movie where he played Luke Skywalker. (Editor’s Note: No, it’s not even close to that.) So share to the Fringe Diary: https://www.forgetthebox.ca/fringediary
FTB Founder Jason C. McLean returns every Friday for another installment in his series, Behind The Curtain.
