Local 514

After revelations of racial profiling and claims that SPVM officers at Station 39 kept the locs of Black people as “trophies,” Soraya Martinez Ferrada and her administration decided to fast-track police body cameras to increase police accountability. However, this move renews debate about whether cameras truly change the institutional culture that drives police violence.Local 514 host Kalden Dhatsenpa talks with Vincent Mousseau—a Black, queer abolitionist, researcher, and social worker about why body cameras have limits and why past Montreal pilot projects showed they were not worth the cost. Vincent reminds our listeners that the body camera pilot project report recommended against instituting body cameras as they were too costly and even police felt they were always being watched. What other solutions are being ignored? And what is the abolitionist take on the issue of the SPVM’s racism?Tune in for the full discussion.

Municipal elections are far more ephemeral than elections at other jurisdictions. At the municipal level parties often pop up as brief vehicles for mayoral campaigns, or borough specific parties like Courage - équipe Sue Montgomery, Mouvement Montreal, and Futur Montreal to name some recent examples.Jason Louissaint was a city councillor candidate for Transition Montreal in the last municipal elections held in October 2025. Despite losing, he is still very much active in his community. We at Local 514 have run into Jason at other protests like the one in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield against the expansion of the General Dynamics facility. Jason has a moral motor that’s kept him active outside of the elections.This summer he’s been active in putting on community strengthening events in Saint-Michel to bring together neighbours  in an otherwise ignored borough. He’s also been a vocal opponent, as other Transition candidates have like Parc-ex city councillor candidate Abdul Khan, or Transition’s mayoral candidate and leader, Craig Sauvé, against the proposed expansion of Tennis Canada’s facilities which could risk taking up a third of the entire park.Jason Louissaint joins host Kalden Dhatsnepa in studio for Local 514 to share his thoughts on the Jarry Park privatisation, as well as his perspectives on municipal issues in Saint-Michel.

Zach Jutras sits down with Zev Saltiel, spokesperson for Montreal Anti-Apartheid, to discuss a motion passed at City Hall.On August 24th, city council was scheduled to vote on a motion brought forward by Projet Montreal to pause institutional ties with Israel, and recognize the genocide in Gaza.Governing party Ensemble Montreal proposed an amended motion that ended up passing, in the place of the original.Saltiel says his organization supported the version brought forward by Projet Montreal, however it did not include every demand they asked for. The version passed by Ensemble Montreal is one that does not make sense to Montreal Anti-Apartheid. Make sure to follow Local 514 & CUTV on social media to stay up to date with new episode and more content:Local 514Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/local514montreal/CUTVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/cutv.community/Website: https://www.cutvmontreal.org/

Ensemble Montreal City Councillor Claude Pinard has announced a new plan to revitalize Montreal’s Chinatown, including the possible development of affordable housing on the vacant lot at Saint-Laurent and René-Lévesque. But what kind of affordable housing does the neighbourhood actually need?

Local 514 speaks with researcher and community organizer Wawa Li about Chinatown’s rooming houses, one of the city’s few remaining sources of deeply affordable, low-barrier housing. We discuss who depends on them, why they are disappearing, and how Montreal can improve living conditions without displacing tenants into homelessness.

As Montréal celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Olympics, the Games are being remembered as a defining moment in the city’s history. But Montréal ’76 was also shaped by major political struggles that Local 514 is spotlighting for a special two-part series.
One of the most significant was the African-led boycott of the Games, sparked by the International Olympic Committee’s refusal to sanction New Zealand after its rugby team toured apartheid South Africa. More than two dozen African countries ultimately withdrew from the Olympics in protest.
For this episode of Local 514, we speak with former Olympian, scholar and anti-apartheid activist Bruce Kidd about the political organizing surrounding Montréal ’76 and why this history deserves a more prominent place in how the Games are remembered.

As Montréal celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Olympics, the Games are being remembered as a defining moment in the city’s history. But Montréal ’76 was also shaped by major political struggles that Local 514 is spotlighting for a special two-part series.
One of the most significant was the African-led boycott of the Games, sparked by the International Olympic Committee’s refusal to sanction New Zealand after its rugby team toured apartheid South Africa. More than two dozen African countries ultimately withdrew from the Olympics in protest.
For this episode of Local 514, we speak with former Olympian, scholar and anti-apartheid activist Bruce Kidd about the political organizing surrounding Montréal ’76 and why this history deserves a more prominent place in how the Games are remembered.

As Montréal approaches the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Olympics, much of the city’s attention is turning back to the Games’ legacy, in a surprisingly positive light. Much of the conversation in the decades since has centred on the Games’ enormous cost, but the lead-up to Montréal ’76 also included an aggressive social campaign to “clean up” the city for an international audience.In the years before the Olympics, police intensified raids on gay bars, bathhouses and other queer spaces, part of a wider crackdown on communities seen as undesirable or embarrassing to the city’s image. These raids caused a critical shift in the queer community. People rallied together to resist the violence of police by mobilizing like they never had before.For this episode of Local 514, we speak with longtime activist and historian Ross Higgins about that history, the queer resistance it helped galvanize for decades that led to the shift in social opinion, and what Montréal leaves out when it remembers the Olympics of 1976.

For its second iteration, Wild Pride is aiming high. This year’s festival spans over two weeks and features more than 120 different events co-created with members of Montréal’s queer community.Wild Pride started in 2025 in fierce opposition to Fierté’s corporatization and refusal to take a stance on the genocide in Palestine. Politics are central to how Wild Pride operates.This grows especially evident as host Kalden Dhatsenpa speaks to Wild Pride team members Ayla and Kamâmik. Both were attendees last year and felt compelled to be on the team this year.Listen to the full conversation to hear more about the work they are doing behind the scenes to deliver a bigger and better festival.To learn more about Wild Pride:https://www.wildpride.ca/about-us/https://www.instagram.com/wildpridemontreal

According to a new report published by the Breach. Deportations across Canada are increasing, with more than half of the country’s deportations happening in Québec. The Montreal Customs and Border Service Agency sees around 200 deportations a week according to Mostafa Henaway, an organizer with Immigrant Workers Centre.
Local 514 host Kalden Dhatsenpa sat down with Saima Desai who co-authored the report to discuss what policy shifts are causing this and to what degree people are feeling this acceleration of border enforcement.

Zach Jutras sits down with Bérengère Fouqueray, research analyst from the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), to discuss their latest research into where small businesses employ temporary foreign workers, as well as Canadian youth.The research found that temporary foreign workers are filling in the gaps for small businesses when Canadian youth are unwilling or unable to do a job. Fouqueray says that small businesses require temporary foreign workers to remain operational and continue hiring Canadians. The CFIB recommended to the federal government ways to improve the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, increase access for small businesses, and support youth hiring.Make sure to follow Local 514 & CUTV on social media to stay up to date with new episodes and more content:Local 514Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/local514montreal/CUTVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/cutv.community/Website: https://www.cutvmontreal.org/