How the questions in this Léger survey were phrased may have influenced the outcome, but it seems that dislike of Montreal is linked to negative views on diversity.
I presume the survey was done across Canada because the item says there were 1,528 participants including 377 Quebecers. But the lede is buried here, because the interesting factoid is: “19 per cent of Montreal francophone respondents held negative views about the city, compared with four per cent of non-francophones.” I’d also like to see more about how the numbers compare to Quebec residents outside the city.
Thomas H 15:39 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
I did a little last minute shopping downtown a few days ago. I used to work downtown before the pandemic so it was my first time back in about 9 months. I found the linguistic diversity and overall level of cosmopolitanism was much higher than I am used to nowadays; I heard Romanian, Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, and a few other languages I didn’t recognize within a space of 15 minutes. Probably more languages than I’ve encountered in the past nine months cumulatively, but I used to be used to this level of diversity. It made me realize that my view of Montreal has really changed over the last nine months. I used to see Montreal as a moderate-sized city of global importance but my recent experiences have mad me feel like I live in something of a provincial, quiet city.
This must be something that folks from the régions notice when they visit Montreal, likely also immersing themselves downtown with several recent newcomers and international tourists. What they don’t see is the Galéries d’Anjou or Carrefour Angrignon, which both may be more diverse than Victoriaville or Rimouski, but not necessarily lacking in a predominant presence of French. Montreal is vibrant and diverse, but not universally; downtown is more of an exception than a rule, as you would expect in almost any city. People who dismiss Montreal as an impenetrable Tower of Babel may be underestimating the extent to which things can be pretty humdrum homogenous in other parts of the city.
Kate 16:32 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
It depends where you are in town – in normal times you’d hear Chinese in Brossard (not exactly Montreal), Arabic in St-Laurent and Petit Maghreb, Italian in St-Léonard, Yiddish in the Mile End, dare I say English in NDG. We have enclaves.
GC 17:41 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
“after a year marked by the language debate roaring back to life in Quebec” While it may go in waves, I’m not sure it’s ever really been dead?
Blork 18:07 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
I lived on Hotel-de-ville near Duluth for a few years in the mid- late-90s, and the language I heard most on the street was Portuguese, followed by French, then English.
Kate 18:19 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
Blork, I lived on Drolet near Duluth till 2005. Over toward St-Laurent I heard a lot of Portuguese, where they had cafés, stores and rotating chickens, but it shaded off before Laval Street, and I never heard it spoken east of St-Denis, it was like a cultural wall. East of there was pretty much solidly francophone.
When I first moved up to Villeray, all of 15 years ago, it was also still something of a Portuguese enclave. I recall poking my head inside the church on Jarry – curious about the architecture – to find a mass going on in that language. Since then, the Portuguese community has faded out. The grocery store closed, one bakery burned down and the other went out of business, and none of the new bakeries are Portuguese. You can’t get pasteis de nata around here any more. And some of the older Portuguese folks on the block have died. There were older Portuguese and Italian folks living around here when I first moved here, but their kids, it seems, have all left for the suburbs.
Not sure how I’d characterize Villeray now. The third-language maps came up a mixture of Spanish and Arabic last I looked, although I rarely notice them being spoken. I’d say it’s about 3/4 francophone and 1/4 anglo, roughly, and not very “ethnic” at all.
GC: I agree with you. Sometimes it gets a little noisier, is all.
Chris 20:28 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
>19 per cent of Montreal francophone respondents held negative views about the city, compared with four per cent of non-francophones
I imagine some of that is explained by a larger fraction of non-francophones choosing to go to Montreal, whereas a larger fraction of francos are just born here.
Max 21:41 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
Figured I’d relate a strange linguistic side-effect of the pandemic that I’ve noticed…
I frequent Quartier Latin regularly thanks to the tacos of the delightful ladies at M4 Burritos. In past years I’ve perceived this area to be overwhelmingly franco (as most people do). But this year, with all the UQAM and Cegep Vieux-Montreal kids staying home, I’ve heard english spoken on rue Saint Denis twice as often as french. How weird is that?
Kate 21:52 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
Max, that’s odd. Can’t be tourists, so who are they?
Mark Côté 21:52 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
Although NDG’s reputation as being an anglo enclave is still somewhat accurate, one of the things I love about this part of town is that I’ll hear at least a handful of languages being spoken in the parks on any given summer day.
Max 22:18 on 2020-12-26 Permalink
Maybe the residents of the area aren’t nearly as franco as the regular visitors? I dunno, Kate. I’m still trying to figure it out.
As a born and bred anglo I’d be more than happy to take up residence in this part of town. It’s far more interesting than the white-bread downtown core to the west. Also, I love those tacos so very, very much.
Kate 10:43 on 2020-12-27 Permalink
I’ve taken note of your taco recommendation, Max, but none of the three locations is north of Sherbrooke Street, so I won’t be trying them anytime soon.
DeWolf 14:15 on 2020-12-27 Permalink
I’m not sure how statistically significant this survey is given the tiny sample size for Quebec, which is presumably the province where people have the strongest views about Montreal. This particular story is being dragged on Reddit and in other places as yet another example of Quebec bashing, but you can’t deny that plenty of people in the regions are suspicious of diversity, and when they come to Montreal they see a city whose demographics look very little like where they’re from.
As with any city, Montreal’s diversity is not evenly spread, and there are plenty of enclaves and neighbourhoods that are more homogenous than others. But in general, I’ve found the whole of Greater Montreal to be much more diverse than it was 10 or 15 years ago, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the steady stream of immigration we had until this year.
I hear Mandarin being spoken all across town, sometimes by young people who look like students, but more often by parents walking their kids home from school. I hear a lot more Farsi in Westmount, a lot more Spanish in Hochelaga and more Arabic in Outremont than I remember from the past.
I also hear English being spoken in parts of town where I seldom used to hear it. The eastern Plateau, Rosemont, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Ahunstic – and yes, the Latin Quarter, so I definitely agree with Max’s observations. The past year has been interesting because most tourists have been removed from the picture, so you get a better sense of the demographics of people who actually live in each neighbourhood.
Uatu 15:59 on 2020-12-27 Permalink
I’m always interested in the idea of “Quebec bashing.” It isn’t as if Quebecers haven’t trashed others from Canadians, Americans, Anglos, Asians… etc. What makes them fair game and not Quebecers?
CE 16:33 on 2020-12-27 Permalink
I recently moved to the eastern Plateau and it is much, much more Anglo than I expected. I figured I’d be one of the only Anglophones in the neighbourhood but I hear English all the time. Even my building is about half English. I was pretty surprised by this, I figured this area was almost entirely Francophone.
Kevin 18:47 on 2020-12-27 Permalink
I would love to know what Camille Laurin would think about Bill 101 being an additive to anglo and allo cultures, instead of a replacement.
smd 19:37 on 2020-12-27 Permalink
Kate, check out the excellent pasteis de nata at Cantine Emilia on Saint-Dominique and Gounod!
Kate 10:51 on 2020-12-28 Permalink
smd, thanks for the tip!