Latest news with #NotreDameDeGrace
CTV News
06-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Two NDG restaurants say they were victims of fraud
Two family-run restaurants in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood say they were victims of an alleged fraud. They both claim thieves stole their payment terminals and quickly withdrew thousands of dollars. Gity Pour and her husband have owned The Oxford Café on Sherbrooke Street for 30 years. Their video surveillance camera shows that on July 2, a man came in right before closing time to get a take-out order and left quickly. 'By the time I went to my device for the transaction, I press it wasn't working,' said Pour. She called her contact person for the payment system on her clover brand terminal when she realized it had been compromised. Charles Shefler, a sales agent for First Data, said the thief probably swapped the terminal. 'The thief had taken her terminal and replaced it with a stolen one, probably from another business he's done this with,' said Shefler. But Pour is down $2,000. In May, a similar incident played out at The Sunshine Dumpling House in Monkland Village. Owner Elise Feng said a man came in at closing time to place an order and stole her clover payment terminal. She said he left a different one in its place. Feng noticed right away, yet within five minutes she was out $2,000. She said the thief used the machine's manual refund function, which can issue a refund of any amount to any debit card. Because it's a debit card, and not a credit card, the transaction cannot be reversed. Feng said she had to pay $600 for a new terminal, and Clover wants another $600 dollars for the stolen device. CTV reached out to Clover, who said they have 'industry-leading security features, including encryption, tamper resistance, and user authentication to prevent unauthorized access.' 'Business owners have full control over refund permissions — allowing organizations to disable refunds," it said in a statement. Feng and Pour both say deactivating the manual refund option is difficult. 'I'm trying myself,' said Pour. 'They referred me to my Clover account, it doesn't give me any information how to disable this.' Pour filed a police report. When contacted by CTV News, Montreal police said they have not made any arrests. 'I'm hoping that the police call Scotiabank and find out who this account belongs to, because that's obviously the person who's doing this,' said Shefler. Both say they now treat the payment device like the cash drawer and never leave it in the open.
CTV News
05-07-2025
- CTV News
Woman injured in family altercation at NDG apartment; suspect arrested
A badge of the Montreal Police Department (SPVM) is shown during a press conference in Montreal, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press) Montreal police (SPVM) are investigating after a woman was injured during an altercation at an apartment in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood on Friday. Around 5:45 p.m., officers were dispatched to an apartment near the intersection of Girouard Avenue and Sherbrooke Street West. When they arrived, officers found a 29-year-old woman with upper-body injuries caused by a sharp object. She was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but police say her life is not in danger. A 38-year-old woman was arrested and will be questioned by investigators. According to initial reports, the incident stemmed from a family conflict that escalated between the victim and the suspect. A security perimeter has been set up and the investigation is ongoing.
National Post
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- National Post
William Shatner says Captain Kirk would be 'appalled' at pace of climate change
Captain James T. Kirk would be appalled at the rapid acceleration of climate change on Earth, says William Shatner, the Montreal-born actor who played the head of the USS Enterprise in the 'Star Trek' franchise for decades. Article content 'I think he would probably be as appalled as I am,' Shatner said during a recent video call from his home in Los Angeles. Article content The actor said he could imagine Kirk 'skywriting' a message to his fellow Earthlings, urging them to take action. Article content Article content 'Education, education, read everything,' Shatner said. 'Everybody should acquaint themselves with the problem, and make a decision.' Article content Article content Shatner is scheduled to make an appearance on the second and third days of the conference. Other scheduled guests include Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,' and Kane Hodder, who starred in the 'Friday the 13th' franchise as the deranged hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees. Article content Shatner was born in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood in 1931, and he still has a deep emotional connection to the city. 'That's my whole childhood,' he said, adding that he has a 'vast' number of relatives living there, including a sister. Article content He began acting when he was a small child, and he continued even after graduating from McGill University in 1952 with a commerce degree. The school's university centre is known to students as the Shatner Building, though the university confirmed it is not the building's official name. Article content He first played Captain Kirk in the 'Star Trek' TV show in 1966. His last appearance in the franchise was in the 1994 film 'Star Trek Generations,' where Kirk is killed off. Article content Article content Article content He also starred in the shows 'Boston Legal' and 'T.J. Hooker.' He wrote several books, including 'Star Trek' novels and a memoir about his friendship with the late actor Leonard Nimoy, who famously played Spock in the original series. And he recorded more than a dozen albums, from 1968's 'The Transformed Man,' a collection of dramatic readings of popular songs, to last year's children's album, 'Where Will the Animals Sleep? Songs for Kids and Other Living Things.' Article content Last month, he was onstage in Seattle with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about space and life in a show they called 'The Universe Is Absurd.' Article content He went to Antarctica last year, with deGrasse Tyson, and he went to space in 2021, aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin shuttle. Article content Article content Always curious and hungry for knowledge, Shatner said he is inspired and fascinated by the capabilities of artificial intelligence and applications such as ChatGPT. Article content 'I was researching a speech I was making, and I could use ChatGPT immediately, (instead of) going down to the library, trying to find the book, read what the book says, come back home and realize I had a question I didn't ask,' he said. 'Artificial intelligence has been a revolution in mankind's acquisition of knowledge.' Article content
CTV News
25-06-2025
- CTV News
Owner of buildings in 2 deadly Old Montreal fires fined for safety code violation
Firefighters stand next to a building in Old Montreal on Saturday, Oct., 5, 2024. A fire that tore through a century-old building in Old Montreal killed at least two people and forced dozens of others out of the area, city police confirmed Saturday as they continued to probe what caused the building to catch alight. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes The owner of two Old Montreal buildings that burned down in 2023 and 2024, killing nine people, has been convicted for violating the fire safety code at another one of his residential buildings. Emile Benamor, a lawyer and landlord who owns several buildings in Montreal, was found guilty on June 19 of failing to maintain a clear path to the emergency exit at 2321 De Hampton Ave., in the city's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood. According to the judgment from the municipal court, two fire inspectors visited the three-storey apartment building for an inspection on March 23, 2023. They noted that, in one unit, one door leading outside had no handle. A door in another apartment had been held together by a chain and adhesive tape. When the inspector forced their way in, the tape was so dry that it cracked into pieces The building was sold to Benamor in 2020. The city took him to court after the inspection and a judge found him guilty of violating section 8 of the fire safety code. Justice Johanne Duplessis said maintaining exits and ensuring they are clear of obstructions helps occupants get out safely during an emergency. 'The risk of serious harm resulting from these breaches is high in the event of a fire, as they jeopardize the safety and lives of residents,' the judge wrote. Landlord plans to appeal judge's decision Reached for comment on Wednesday, Benamor's lawyer, Germain Caponi-Champagne, told CTV News that the door that was missing a handle was broken by the tenant, and that the tape that was installed on the door in the other unit was installed by the tenant. The court issued a fine of $650 for the violation, plus costs. He said Benamor intends to file a notice of appeal of the conviction, claiming that there are 'some mistakes in law in the judge's decision.' He declined to comment further. In his defence, Benamor told the court that the tenants had refused him access to the units and, because of that, he was unable to observe the deficiencies in the apartment and carry out safety checks. However, the judge rejected the argument that he exercised reasonable diligence, saying that the claim is not backed up by evidence, and that, given that he's an experienced landlord, he should have known that he could have contacted Quebec's housing tribunal (TAL) when he was denied access to the units. 'It is clear from the defendant's testimony that he never took any concrete steps with the tenants of units 6 and 7, in connection with the Fire Prevention Regulations,' the judge stated. '[Benamor] could have, for example, explained the regulations to the tenants or asked them for access, in order to ensure compliance with the regulations. Instead, the defendant simply repeated during his testimony before the Tribunal that the tenants were not giving him access, referring to the fact that they refused to sign the rent increase notice, a situation that has nothing to do with safety and fire regulations. 'The defendant took it for granted that if the tenants refused to accept service of documents relating to a rent increase and refused him entry at the time of his purchase, the same will apply to everything else.' Building inspected one week after deadly fire The building on De Hampton Avenue was inspected one week after the March 16, 2023, deadly fire in Old Montreal that killed seven people. Benamor owned the heritage building at Place d'Youville, where families of the victims reported that there were fire safety concerns. The father of one of the victims and a former tenant alleged that at least one of the units had no windows or fire escapes, while survivors of the fire have suggested the alarms never went off. On Oct. 4, 2024, another one of Benamor's buildings was allegedly set on fire, killing French tourist Léonor Geraudie and her seven-year-old daughter Vérane Reynaud-Geraudie. Two young men were later arrested. After the fire, former short-term rental guests who stayed there claimed there were safety issues in the building at 402 Notre-Dame Street. 'The door and the lock felt flimsy in the room. My room also had a smoke detector mount but no smoke detector,' one woman told CTV News at the time. On Oct. 8, 2024, Benamor's office was hit by gunfire. Three suspects were later arrested by Montreal police.
