MONTREAL -- Demonstrators marching in Montreal yesterday demanded one of the city's most powerful families become "part of the solution" in Burma.

Since 2002, Quebec tycoon Paul Desmarais Jr., chairman of the board of Power Corp., has been a member of the very small circle of directors of the French oil company Total, which is well established in Burma.

Power Corp. owns 3.9% of the shares of the oil company through its European holding company Pargesa, which it holds in partnership with the Frere family.

"Total remains one of the key elements of our portfolio," Paul Desmarais Sr. wrote in Pargesa's March 6 annual report. The founder of the Power Corp. empire is the richest person in Quebec, with a fortune estimated at $4 billion.

MILITARY JUNTA

Since the Burmese military junta stepped up its repressive activities and arrested hundreds of dissident Buddhist monks over the past weeks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a good friend of Desmarais, has called on French businesses to freeze their investments in Burma. Total refused.

"They can't tell us that it's not their business. They have a tremendous influence over the Burmese government," said the director of Amnesty International Canada, Beatrice Vaugrante.

"These investors can no longer remain silent, they must exert overt pressure to have human rights respected, to stop forced labour and the crushing of entire villages."

The current junta came to power in Burma after routing a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, killing at least 3,000 people.

The Montreal demonstrators joined protesters in other Canadian cities, including Ottawa, who were among thousands of people around the world yesterday taking part in rallies pushing for democracy in Burma.

Calls placed with Power Corp. yesterday weren't returned.