Help Generations help kids generationsfoundation.com O 514-933-8585 MARCH2011 www.theseniortimes.com VOL.XXVN 5 Inside: GUIDE TO SENIOR LIVING Ann Lambert — Making theatre vital p. 3 Eric Siblin’s sweet success with Cello Suites p. 5 Joyce Blond Frank says you’re liable for your pet p. 11 Fraud victims’ fight for justice goes on p. 17 Juan Rodriguez welcomes you to his world p. 34 24 hours Weather permitting Airport reservations guaranteed Special Attention to the Elderly Pick-Up & Delivery [email protected] www.atlastaxi.qc.ca Bahrein and stirrings in Jordan, Morocco and else- Editorial: Getting away with murder in Iran where. The Arab street is rumbling, oppressive Iranian-born Saeed Malekpour, a permanent bloodthirsty regime that ignores international walls are crumbling, the masses are crying out for resident of Canada, has spent the last two years human-rights standards. According to the Inter- many for the freedoms we take for granted and it in an Iranian jail and there are persistent reports national Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, an is our duty to speak out in their support. he is about to be executed. Iranian prisoner has been executed every eight This brings us to the campaign by Palestinian He went back to Iran in the fall of 2008 to visit hours in recent months. In mid-February, more and Jewish Unity, supported by other leftist ac- his father who was terminally ill, and was arrested than 40 exiled Iranian academics and intellectuals tivists, to boycott stores on St. Denis that sell Is- on charges involving Internet pornography. wrote an open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban raeli-made shoes. Dr. Amir Khadir, the For months, he has languished in prison and he Ki-moon protesting against 47 executions since Iranian-born Québec Solidaire member of the na- is not alone among those who face the wrath of a the new year, and expressing alarm that about 300 tional assembly, helped propel the campaign into executions have been reported by various human the mass media by his well-publicized participa- Rideau Carleton/ rights organizations over the past year. tion this fall in a demonstration in front of the Le Raceway Slots The Harper government, to its credit, has ex- Marcheur shoe store, which sells Israeli-made pressed outrage at what it called “disdain for the Beautifeel footwear. He called for a boycott of the (Ottawa) $25 bus trip rights of Iranian and dual-national citizens” and store, then seemed to apologize when he told The 1,250 Slot Machines from 1¢ to $5 the recent wave of executions, including the Gazette he sometimes displays“excessive zeal. And Weekly Saturdays Departures Malekpour condemnation for software he created sometimes my words get away from me.” March 12, 19, 26 that was considered offensive. Malekpour is With a lot of public sympathy being extended to Saturdays April 9, 16, 23 among many facing “disproportionately harsh the family-run store, the campaign appears to Bonus, $15 per person. Weekly Drawing for a FREE punishment for dubious offences, after a highly have shifted its focus to the original intention of Trip. Have Blast & Join the bus. Group discount 10+ questionable legal process,” according to Foreign forcing all St. Denis merchants to stop selling Is- CLAIRE 514-979-6277 Affairs. And Iran has repeatedly turned down re- raeli-made shoes, part of the boycott, divestment quests for visits and to provide consular assistance. and sanctions, or BDS, campaign to end the occu- The recent and welcome series of popular upris- pation by Israel of land it seized following the 1967 ings in North Africa have succeeded in toppling war. Meanwhile, Khadir was the only MNA to autocratic and corrupt regimes in Tunisia and deny consent to a resolution condemning the boy- Egypt and sparked grass-roots revolts in Libya, cott campaign. While we oppose BDS as punishing people like DELUXE BUS TOURS 2011 the workers who produce the goods and families like the Archambaults who sell them, we question Plattsburgh NY • Sat April 9 the relative scale of values when well-intentioned Shopping: Aldees, Target, Mega, politicians like Khadir choose their campaigns. 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Her wall is full of posters of plays she’s written, and The historic, beautifully renovated other momentos from 30 years writ- yellow brick building on Sher- ing, directing, producing and teach- brooke that stretches from Atwater ing theatre. to Wood, once the motherhouse of Lambert was born in Beaconsfield, Congregation Notre-Dame, is the and raised there and at the family home turf of one of this city’s prime cottage on Lake Massawippi. Of the educational institutions. approximately 20 plays she’s written, Dawson College is bursting at the the first was in1983. The Greenhouse seams, with about 10,000 day and is about the death of her father, ac- evening students. Because of its loca- countant Russell Lambert. It was tion, extensive and innovative pro- produced for the Quebec Drama Fes- grams and dedicated, creative tival at the Centaur Theatre, a show- teachers, it has become so popular it case for new writers. The follow-up, has rented rooms at the nearby AMC The Wall, was inspired by a newspa- Forum to accommodate the overflow. per photograph of an East German There are many reasons the college shot trying to cross the wall into West has achieved its reputation, and Eng- Germany. lish teacher Ann Lambert is one “The image in The Gazette showed example. One of Montreal’s top play- the face of the soldier who was car- wrights, Lambert belies the cliché rying the body. I thought I would tell that those who can, do, and those the guard’s story. I wanted to show who can’t, teach. Not only does she what that felt like, to shoot someone. do both, winning awards and acco- I didn’t specify where it took place.” lades for her work, she brings her When The Wall was remounted creative impulse and drive into the four years ago, the theme resonated classroom. with such recent developments as the We visited Lambert recently at the barriers separating Israel from Pales- office she shares with three other tinian territories and between the teachers. Her desk is crowded with U.S. and Mexico, she noted. miniature sets of plays her students Continued on Page 4 ########################### # Cape Cod Massachusetts # # June 13-17, 2011, 5 days, 4 nights # # 4 breakfasts, 4 dinners # Including new England lobster dinner # Fully escorted tours of Hyannis, Historic Sandwich# # Boston & Quincy Market, Plymouth & Plymouth # # Rock, Province Town, & Hyannis Harbor Cruise # Manoir Richelieu $675 pp double $830 pp single # April 10-11, 2011, 2 days 1 night # # 1 breakfast, Casino Charlevoix Nashville & Memphis, Tennessee # $149 pp double 9 days, 8 nights # $224 pp single! 2 nights in Nashville, 2 nights in Memphis & # # overnights. Lucheon cruise on General Jackson # Tulip Festival in Ottawa # Riverboat, visit to Louisville slugger Museum. # May 17, 2011 Tour of Belle Meade Plantation. Guided tour of # Tour of Tulip Festival Nashville & Memphis, including Graceland, # # Time at Byward market Casey Jones Museum & Rock’n Soul Museum # Box lunch in park $40 # $1195 pp single $1460 pp single # For information and to reserve please contact Danielle McCartney 514 794-7884 or 450 691-5555 www.theseniortimes.com March 2011 THE SENIOR TIMES 3 “I love listening to people. I am like a professional eavesdropper” Continued from Page 3 out new territory last year at Dawson with the col- It was originally written as a monologue for lective and its production of A Midsummer Night’s Lambert’s Master’s degree in creative writing at KickAss Dream, which played to sold-out audiences. Concordia University. “My teacher took a big red It is a play about students doing the play, within pen and crossed through the pages. He said: ‘It’s which lies a sub-plot, written by Lambert with full of grammatical mistakes,’ and I said: ‘That’s material and ideas from the students.