The Rover

Christopher Curtis, journaliste à The Rover, et Kane Montour, chef de la Perimeter Security de Kanesatake (KPS), marchent le long des rives de la rivière des Outaouais. PHOTO : Justin Khan. Read this article in English. La nuit de son 24e anniversaire, un repas chaud, un gâteau d’anniversaire et une famille aimante attendaient Ronnie Dariel Beltre Gonzalez chez lui, à Valleyfield. L’année avait été particulièrement difficile pour le jeune homme.

Christopher Curtis, journalist with The Rover, and Kane Montour, head of Kanesatake’s Perimeter Security (KPS), walk along the banks of the Ottawa River. PHOTO: Justin Khan. On the night he turned 24, there was a warm meal, a birthday cake and a loving family waiting for Ronnie Dariel Beltre Gonzalez at his home in Valleyfield. It had been a brutal year for the young man. Gonzalez served time at Montreal’s Bordeaux prison that winter for threatening to harm his girlfriend.

The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 9, 2023, leaving widespread destruction in the Rimal area. PHOTO: Naaman Omar, APAimages. “I’m not just looking for my belongings. I’m looking for a part of my life. The photos of my family, the memories of my children, and the documents I’ve kept for years are still somewhere under the rubble.” Every time Ahmed returns to the ruins of his home, he never knows what he’ll find.

The Rover’s 2025 Transparency Report is here! This report is destined for you, our community, the stakeholders in this project. Every year, the release of this report is our opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to transparency with our audience, to show you how our money comes in and where it goes out. It also gives you an idea of who we work with, the impact of our reporting, how much traffic we get on the website, and what our priorities are for the next calendar year.

Chivengi of Black Gxrl Sesh performing at Ctrl+Alt festival in 2025. PHOTO: Victoria Jean-François In an era of commodified queerness, corporatized Pride and overexploitation of artists, queer-run Ctrl+Alt Festival casts sunshine on Montreal’s underground for the third consecutive year. Local nightlife icons and burgeoning artists, including DJs, drag queens, ballroom performers, and burlesque dancers will take to the stage July 24-26 at Place du Village.

In the refugee camps, Palestinians gather around screens powered by makeshift generators to follow the world’s biggest soccer tournament. Amid power outages, fear of bombings, and the loss of the places where they used to watch matches, soccer remains a rare moment of respite in a life upended by war. Abdel Rahman al-Sheikh Khalil is 30 years old. Trained as an accountant, he used to handle numbers before the war; today, he runs a café set up in a tent west of Gaza City.

Protesters attend a protest against rising housing prices in Montreal on July 1, 2026. PHOTO: Justin Khan Canada Day in Montreal conjures scenes of pure chaos. Rented U-Hauls double-parked on a one-way street, oversized couches teetering up spiral staircases and city sidewalks littered with dead appliances.

Children in Gaza find a moment of respite by the sea, far from the cramped conditions and stifling heat of the tents. PHOTO: Sarah Emad al-Zaq Has the war changed the meaning of the sea? In Gaza, this is no mere poetic question. It looms large for every resident who still sets foot on the sand. Before October 7, Gaza’s waterfront was a city within a city.

The striking daycare workers were tired and broke by the time winter arrived, worn down from standing on the frozen picket lines while their bosses refused to negotiate. Then, just three days before Christmas, the educators at CPE Le Jardin Robi found out their bosses wanted to force them back to work using a controversial new labour law. They had been on strike since October of last year, fighting to keep their paid 30-minute lunch break.

GRAPHIC: Evan Goulet As if we didn’t already have enough going on here at The Rover, we’re bringing our fearless independent journalism to yet another platform. Our YouTube show is up and running, and five weeks in, it’s showing promise. The Week Is Rover drops on Sunday mornings, and every week, two co-hosts will delve into the stories shaping our lives as Montrealers and Quebecers, going behind the headlines to bring you our indie journalist analysis — the story behind the story, if you will.