First Charlie Hebdo Issue After Paris Attacks On Sale In Canada
The first issue edition of the satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" after the horrendous Jan. 7 Paris attacks will be made available in Canada on Friday. About 1,500 copies have been reserved for sale in the north American country.
Its cover features a caricature of the Islam faith's Prophet Muhammad, shown weeping and holding a sign. It reads, "I am Charlie." The words "All is forgiven" are placed above him.
"For the past week, Charlie, an atheist newspaper, has achieved more miracles than all the saints and prophets combined," reads the lead editorial in the new issue. "The one we are most proud of is that you have in your hands the newspaper that we always made."
France will fly in copies of the magazine by air freight on Thursday night. It will then be shipped across Canada and the U.S. in time for the sale date on Friday. Sylvain Fournier, product manager for French press at LMPI, the Canadian distributor of Charlie Hebdo, believes the 1,500 copies aren't enough. And what's worse, when it runs out, "it's going to be hard to get more."
Gateway Newsstands, which has an account with LMPI, will sell it. But not all of its stores will. Portal o.canada said it won't be available at the Union Station. Gateway Newsstands at Yonge and St. Clair streets in Toronto will have it, but manager Cathy Ola said number of copies could be less than 50.
Louis-Philip Vermeersch, director of sales for LMPI, said Charlie Hebdo is usually only available in Quebec and one store in Toronto. But last week's tragedy that killed 12 people right inside Charlie Hebdo's offices pushed the satirical magazine into international limelight. People around the world would now want to have a copy of their first issue published after the terrorist attacks. Vermeersch vowed distribution will be more widespread this time. He said at least five Toronto stores will have copies, then one in New Brunswick, one in Nova Scotia and a handful in Vancouver in addition to its usual Quebec-based retailers.
Charlie Hebdo's publisher has said it will jack up the production numbers of this week's issue to an unprecedented three million copies worldwide. Vermeersch, however, said this doesn't mean Canada would be able to receive additional copies, if ever.
"This is just supply to meet domestic demand in France," Vermeersch told Toronto Star. "We are trying to get another run, but we have no confirmation whatsoever at the moment."