REM station names unveiled
Names for 25 of the 26 initial REM stations have been unveiled, with one exception – the “Griffintown-Bernard-Landry” station whose announcement caused a minor furore in December.
However, “[the Irish community] found it offensive to name the station after Landry, who they associate with the destruction of Cree burial sites in northwestern Quebec in favour of Hydro‑Quebec projects”? This is the first I’ve heard of this, and if someone is claiming this to be true, it’s such bullshit. The Irish are not losing sleep over Cree burial sites, but their spokesman knows this is a more politically canny rationalization than the truth: most members of the Irish community are anglophones and Landry was a Péquiste. Nobody wants to spell it out, so I will.
Em 14:38 on 2020-02-13 Permalink
They also have continually refused to reveal the location of the station. There’s clearly some sort of discussions happening, perhaps regarding the addition of a second station at Bassin Peel to serve the future hypothetical baseball stadium. Then they could name one after Landry and one after the Irish. Problem solved!
Faiz Imam 15:38 on 2020-02-13 Permalink
Reports have already come out that the station will be built on rue Ottawa, and in the future a 2nd station may pop up south of the basin if a new development gets done (baseball stadium or not).
https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2019/11/16/la-station-du-rem-pres-de-la-gare-centrale
I like the other names. It’s good that the terminal is not called dix30. Its not ideal to use a commercial trademark, even if its technically a geographical term.
“Ville-de-Mont-Royal” is a bit cumbersome though.
Marie Curie is a nice idea.
The rest seem pretty obvious and reasonable.
Ephraim 16:44 on 2020-02-13 Permalink
Will Marie Curie station glow iridescently?
Kate 14:01 on 2020-02-14 Permalink
We can hope so.
Ian 17:38 on 2020-02-15 Permalink
It only makes sense the city continue to slowly erase the history of Griffintown & its Irish, whether it’s the open racism of a Drapeau or the oblique small-mindedness of Plante.
Donovan King 20:42 on 2020-02-16 Permalink
Just to clarify some errors, 40% of Quebeckers have Irish roots whereas only 9% of Quebeckers are anglophones. Also, the Irish community shows solidarity with First Nations people and empathizes with British colonization, genocide and cemetery destruction. The REM just dug up over a dozen of our ancestors to plant a pylon through our Famine burial ground. You can read the rationale and follow the links through the posted website (OTL Blog).
Michael Black 21:33 on 2020-02-16 Permalink
Well Annie Bannantyne in Red River was of Irish descent, she’s known for horsewhipping Charles Mair in Feb 1869 for his commemts about the Metis women of Red River. She’s related to Louis Riel, I think through her mother. I’ve seen it suggested that Annie’s action influenced Louis to act.
Of course, the real surprise is that Louis was really only interested in Metis rights, not native rights. But James Ross certainly argued that they be included.
But Kate’s point is valid. Like I said last week, people leverage with what is most likely to work. The fuss about the name has been about the Irish. Just because someone invokes the cousins doesn’t mean it’s something everyone wants. And everytime a European gets outraged about the way the cousins are treated it often means they are speaking rather than letting the cousins speak for themselves.
If you think native people can’t be tour guides in Montreal, I’d say either you are leveraging, or stereotyping the cousins as poor and uneducated.