Lessons From the Ice Storm 1998: A Quebec Perspective

Lessons From the Ice Storm 1998: A Quebec Perspective The quip that "Canada suffers from too much geography" should perhaps be altered to "Canada suffers from too much weather." Notwithstanding the climatic bliss ofthe West coast, weather has played a leading role in the unfolding Canadian story, from unforgiving Atlantic sea storms and harsh winters in central Canada, to droughts in the plains and the arctic challenges of the North. Contending with or attempting to neutralize the weather have been part ofthe Canadian mythology and central to its "hard frontier" experience. Technological efforts have more or less mitigated the climatic challenge - or so it was thought. In recent times, Canadians have been reminded relentlessly of the ongoing power and fickleness ofthe weather. The floods aroundWmnipeg and in the Sagnenay area, and the great Ice Storm of1998, are sobering reminders oftechnology's limited capacity to transcend the weather - as well as of the potential dangers inherent in this effort. Up to its inunediate aftermath, there has been limited, indeed,modest, intellectual or political discussion ofthe Ice Storm in Quebec. It was perhaps only natural , or necessary, that those experiencing the event were focussed more on the practicalities ofday-to-day living than on philosophizing about it. But_even as the last houses in the "triangle of darkness" have their power restored, the media, politicians and commentators continue to restrain pitching discussion up to a critical or reflective level. Inevitably, there will be post-mortems and finger pointing. But the early cases of this - such as the complaint that Quebec was slow in requesting the help of the Canadian army or the sniping at Montreal's Mayor Bourque - did not generate much heat. This reflects, I believe, an innate respect for the seriousness of the events and our difficulty in becoming detached from them. A small anecdote can perhaps serve as a metaphor for this. At the end ofthe fortnight, I was delivering one ofmy children to a recreational outing and parents were sharing experiences of the storm. During our conversation, it emerged that not one ofthe group had taken a photograph ofthe storm and its aftermath. Indeed, I cannot recall seeing anyone - other than media and professionals - taking a photo. It was as if recording the event would trivialize it and deny our own place in it. It was not that the Ice Storm did not provide photo opportunities. The glassy landscape, odd ice-formations and misshapen silvery trees - lit by a full moon on the storm's first weekend, when city lights were all but absent - was a netherworldly sight. The pistol-cracking sound of breaking branches followed by the shattering of the ice-laden limbs crashing to the ground was awesomely unique. Whole neighbourhoods stood abandoned for days, their houses dark and empty, and their streets made impassable by uncleared layers of snow and ice, fallen or groaning tress and immobilized silvery vehicles. Commercial streets stood silent and lifeless, sparked periodically by the odd sight of a restaurant's wood or gasfired pizza or bagel oven cooking by candlelight. One of the strangest sights was Journal ofCanadian Studies Vol. 32 No. 4 (Hiver 1998 Winter) 3 the flashes oflightning piercing the winter skyduring the last ice storm on Friday which seemed to displace us to another planet. Hospital corridors and shelters were, alas, more mundane and war-like. There were humbling aspects to the experience. For those displaced to a shelter , lives were turned upside-down for days ifnot weeks. For those more fortunate, what was especially unnerving was the loss of control and predictability, as well as a sense that we knew or understood little about what was happening. Despite increased meteorological sophistication, even the experts seemed surprised-dayby -day - at the severity, persistence and character of the storm. There was randomness to its impact that was both puzzling and guilt generating. In Montreal, the West and the South were far more harshly treated than the East and North. Outside Montreal, those in the Monteregie- the triangle ofdarkness - were treated diabolically relative to those in the Outaouais and the Laurentians. Even adjacent streets and neighbourhoods had different fortunes. None of this was fathomable. Indeed, despite the 24-hour-a...