February 4 Montréal Police raided […]
When
1975-02-04
Description
February 4 Montréal Police raided the Sauna Aquarius baths, 1183, rue Crescent, and arrested thirty-five people as being found-ins in a bawdy house. The manager and two employees were charged with being operators of a common bawdy house; no charges were laid against the owners. Of the thirty-five customers charged, one pleaded guilty and was fined $25. The police raid on the Aquarius was part of a campaign to "clean up" Montreal in preparation for the 1976 summer Olympics. In response to the raid, the AHM/GMA publication Gay-Zette published a special twelve-page issue that included an interview with one of the people arrested and notes on recent police harassment in Montreal. On February 25, 1976, Harold Walsh, the manager of the Aquarius, was convicted of operating a common bawdy house and faced up to two years in prison; his appeal to the Quebec Court of Appeal failed in 1977. (see also April 12,1975.)
All Events
April 9 Ottawa Ron Dayman of GO […]All Places
Sauna Aquarius BathsMontrealAll People
Harold WalshAll Organizations
Court of Queen's Bench, Quebec Court of AppealAssociation homophile de Montreal Gay Montreal Association AHM GMAService de police de la Ville de Montreal/Montreal Police ServiceAll Periodicals
Association homophile de Montreal/Gay Montréal Association Bulletin Newsletter, Gay-ZetteAll Citations
"Police Raid Clubs; Seeking Clues to Montreal's Rising Murder Rate?," Montreal Gay Times 1 (December 1975): 5-6 (reprinted inBody Politic, no, 22[1976], p. 4),"Olympic Crackdown," Body Politic, no, 25 (1976), pp, 1, 17;Special Issue, Gay-Zette March 1975, 12 pp.;John Blacklock and Paul Trollope, "How a Steambath Becomes a Bawdyhouse: 'Scanty' Evidence and 'Undercover' Agents," Body Politic, no. 38 (1977). p- 7;"Aquarius Trials: News in Brief," Montreal Gay Times 1 (December 1975): 7;"Aquarius Trial Postponed (Again)," Gay-Zette 2 (June 1975): 8;"Aquarius Raid Start of Police Anti-gay Clean-up Campaign," Gay Times 1 (April 1975): 1;"Aquarius Continues," Gay-Zette 2 (April 1975): 1;
