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2009-11-22

Canada Customs up to dirty tricks again


Canada's border guards are holding prints of three films destined for a gay film festival in Ottawa, and they won't release them until they've had the chance to watch them from beginning to end.

That poses a problem for Inside Out, a Toronto-based film festival with an annual Ottawa satellite program. They intended to show all three films this weekend. Without the prints, they're left scrambling to find grainy lower-quality copies to show audiences.

The gay community and the CBSA (formerly Canada Customs) have a long and checkered past. Border cops spent two decades harassing gay bookstores, with books and magazines arriving in Canada delayed by months or even shredded.

Vancouver-based bookstore Little Sister's took them to court and in 2000 won a partial victory. At the time, the Supreme Court of Canada acknowledged that material was routinely being stopped at the border because of its gay content, and ordered the government agency to stop.

Move over Cougar Town

I am a fan of the new show called Cougar Town starring Courteney Cox, but this one goes one better ... as Jimmy Kimmel explains:

Janet's new video

Despite all the hooplah around Michaels's death, Janet has released a new album that she says goes back to the upbeat, danceable, sexy stuff she did before. Watch this video and others in the Related Videos column and decide for yourself.