Montreal police look into billboard hijacked by climate activists

Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion hijacked a billboard in Montreal's Mile End neighbourhood overnight between Sunday and Monday.

MONTREAL — A billboard in Montreal’s Mile End was hijacked overnight.

The poster – situated at the intersection of du Parc and Fairmont Avenues – reads "ca va bien bruler" and was installed to draw attention to the climate crisis around the world, characterized by the recent forest fires in California and beyond, according to the group behind it.

The slogan is a play on the phrase "ca va bien aller" that has been associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, which means "it's going to be okay." The billboard's slogan loosely translates to "It's going to burn well."

Climate activist group Extinction Rebellion is using the billboard as an opportunity to invite Montrealers to a demonstration scheduled for Sept. 26, which it says will be held in the goal of demanding that governments take "ecological action."

"As a society, we are faced with a choice," Extinction Rebellion Quebec’s Louis Rairez said in a Monday morning press release. "We can go back to where we were before the pandemic or seize this occasion to remedy our layered crises once and for all."

Veronique Comtois from the Montreal police (SPVM) said officers made their way to the scene when they found out the billboard had been hijacked and that a report is being drawn up.

The billboard comes just hours after Premier Francois Legault called the idea of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 in Quebec "ambitious." He met with the Coalition Avenir Quebec's (CAQ) youth wing on Sunday -- a group who believes the province is capable of reaching that goal.

Legault said it would be challenging but that he's "not saying no" -- pinning the hope of reaching that milestone on the accelerated electrification of transportation, which he said is key to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

"Behind statements that everything will work out, there is a call for apathy," Extinction Rebellion's Ramirez said. "Everything will work out if and only if we mobilize."

With files from The Canadian Press.