It comes as no surprise to find that the numbers of homeless rose by 15% between 2022 and 2024, and this piece goes on to say they had already risen 42% between 2018 and 2022.
TVA illustrates the problem with a story about store owners installing metal grilles so people can’t camp out in their doorways at night.
The project to renovate the old High School of Montreal building on University, which has housed FACE for many years, is being abandoned by the CAQ because the estimate has ratcheted up to $375 million. The schools which were meant to temporarily function as sites for FACE students will now be fixed up for their permanent use, and the University Street building put up for sale – although who would want it, and for what, is left to the imagination.
Later, Le Devoir had some reactions from parents whose kids attend the school.
If McGill can find the money they’ll buy it even if they can’t tear it down. Infinite appetite.
FACE is also special because it’s jointly run, in some way, by the English and French school boards/service centres, but it’s technically the CSSDM that owns the building, so the government decides, rather than the EMSB.
Lastly, this is another example of why we need to work on bringing costs down. The more things cost, the fewer things we can do.
Would McGill even be allowed to demolish that building? Doesn’t it have historical value?
I’m afraid it will just turn into another Institut des Sourdes‑Muettes.
But taking it down would free up a nice chunk of downtown real estate.
As a school, FACE has been crap for over 15 years. It started going downhill when the CSDM took over, and basically devolved into a poorly managed, falling apart neighbourhood school with an intensive music program. Many of the teachers would be unemployable anywhere else, but have their permanence and know they can get away with it as long as they feel like staying on. Even the administration has been a revolving door of CSDM rejects for years.
I didn’t know about the decline, Ian. I had friends who sent their kids to FACE and were happy with the quality of the education, but that wasn’t within the last 15 years.
Both my kids went there, and wow. I know lots of people my age that went there as kids, and it meant something. The admin literally ruined it.
It’s a real shame because I know people who went there — also more than 15 years ago — and heard such good things. I know a couple of people looking into high schools and the options are very limited.
From my second kid’s kindergarten class only 5 stayed at FACE as far as high school. The biggest problem is that if there are any students not getting top grades or struggling in any way the answer is always “Well, FACE isn’t for everybody”. The underlying excuse that having an intensive music program (choir and instrumental) on top of regular academics means that a LOT of teachers figure it’s up to the student to succeed and if they don’t, well, too bad. There is a ton of homework to make up for poor in-class instruction. Even so, I’ve seen FACE grads that literally can’t comfortably communicate in French, and it’s supposed to be an immersive French program – one step below completely bilingual. The other problem is that once the CSDM took over the admin from the EMSB, the French side’s teachers didn’t want to have to do anything that wasn’t a normal responsibility at any other school… so the admin got rid of the family program, most of the extracurriculars besides music, and a lot of teachers left. Those that stayed are in many cases simply not employable elsewhere.
Tell your friends to send their kids to Westmount, Marymount, wherever & just pay for music lessons on the side. It will be cheaper than FACE’s instrument fee anyhow, the kids might learn French, and won’t all be stressed out nervous wrecks. The kind of student that does well at FACE would literally excel anywhere, and for those that don’t, well – “FACE isn’t for everybody”.
I’ve also heard people speak highly of it but, again, in the 20+ years ago range.
What was the family program? Just curious.
McGill’s Music department has been eyeing the building for at least two decades. This is what I was told by an administrator in the early aughts. I was touring Tanna Schulich Hall for a project.
McGill obviously makes sense but it would need the province to kick in a huge amount of the $375M to renovate the building, no? The same government that can’t justify that expense for the CSSDM will open the taps for McGill?
@GC basically mixing cohorts at different times of day so the different age groups would get to know one another and form bonds between graade levels. Family class was kind of like homeroom but a bunch of grades would start the day there together. It also made sense within the context of the orchestra and choir, where you would perform by grade level but also in more specialized sub-groups where you might be with kids across grades.
Interesting. Thanks.
While I’m sure McGill would love to take over the building and could very much use the space, that won’t happen in this political climate, everything is being cut to the bone in an attempt to deal with CAQ cutbacks. Nearly all renovations and new construction have been cancelled and a lot of deferred maintenance is being further deferred.
I’d be surprised if Music were to get the building even if it was coming to McGill. There has been a lot of talk that they may well be the first program sacrificed if cuts continue. Also, they have a custom constructed 20 year old building, which means brand new in McGill terms.
Westmount High should not be considered an option if you’re looking for a good school for your kids. My two were there for a while and it has very little to recommend it.
I studied music at McGill (graduated in 2007) and I’d be really sad to see the music program go.
McGill already dumped the music conservatory a couple of years ago, but that wasn’t a degree program.
How bad are the instrument fees? My public high school here charged $100 a year in today’s dollars, but it’s now free. And it was a good program too, we beat FACE (and other schools) in competitions frequently, and they’ve had just two music teachers over the last half century or so. (Not tooting my own horn, I was not the reason for that.)
Just to clarify, I was a university student at McGill and not in the conservatory. Though I was sad to see the conservatory end.
EmilyG – of course. You could not have “graduated” from the conservatory, because that’s not how a conservatory works.
I know several kids that go to FACE on both sides and ages and there are definitely issues there, does feel like it is has aged badly and suffering from the deliberate neglect of the government, overall they seem to be doing fine and enjoying themselves.
Likewise for Westmount High, though the ones I know there just started.
I’m sure some of you had bad experiences with your children in those schools, and I don’t discount those. Likewise, your condemnations may not be as universal as you state.
There is a certain math teacher at WHS whose classes have had failing averages for years. That is to say the class average is regularly below 60%. It was like that before my kids and it continues to be that way. When I went to the principal about it I was encouraged to write a letter to help build a file against him. I wrote that letter 5 years ago, he’s still teaching.
Speaking only of music conservatory schools, the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal (close to Laurier Metro) is still going and open-to-the-public year end recitals start this week.
We have seen several interesting free or very low-cost concerts there in the past couple of years.
@walkerp There is a certain French teacher at FACE on the English side who sometimes confuses avoir and être, and despite many complaints over many years from teachers and students, continues to teach there.
Last October, the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld an earlier court decision that arbitrary police traffic stops lead to racial profiling and must be ended, but Quebec is keen on them and intended to allow them to continue until a Supreme Court ruling is handed down.
But the appeal court maintained this week that random stops must be off the menu until then.
A REV for bikes and a reserved bus lane for the 55 will transform St‑Urbain Street this summer, all the way from Jean‑Talon down to St‑Antoine.
(Or so the item says. The 55 actually takes Clark Street from Jean‑Talon down to the tracks. Under the tracks, the street magically changes identity to St‑Urbain.)
Parking spots will be lost. Expect trouble.
Later: CBC radio says the work will extend from Bernard to Milton this summer.
This is a 9/10. It’ll be a 10 if the STM increases the 55’s capacity (either more frequent service, accordion buses, or ideally both).
I just hope the city eventually does the same thing on St-Laurent.
Yes, expect trouble, but this is really needed I think. The current cycle lane on St-Urbain is scary for cyclists, especially between St-Joe and Sherbrooke, where you have zooming traffic separated only by a painted line on your left and the threat of being doored on your right.
They have a lot less wiggle room for REVing St-Urbain than they had on St-Denis, so it will be interesting to see how they pull it off. The biggest hazard will probably be integrating bus stops with the REV lane, as it means passengers will have to cross the REV path in order to get on or off the bus. (Getting off will likely be more hazardous, as you don’t really expect a 90-pound e-bike to be ripping past at 30k/hr just as you’re stepping off a bus, but hopefully they will find a solution for that.)
Will the REV be bidirectional or one way? IIRC (I avoid it whenever possible), the St-Urbain path is currently one way southbound.
If bidirectional, with both lanes on one side of the street or a southbound lane on the west side and a northbound lane on the east side?
A one-way or one-sided bidirectional path would require less space. The path could also be routed on the east side of the street, the better not to interfere with buses.
According to the article it’s going to be, from west to east: bike lane, rush-hour reserved bus lane, car lane, car parking. They have a parkling lane and the existing painted bike lane to work with on the west, but it sounds like they’ll be doing the bus stops like Verdun street’s recent renos, so probably only room for a single southbound bike lane.
If the bus lane could be wide enough, it might be safer to have it go:
sidewalk – bus lane – bike lane – traffic
But that would only work if the bus lane were 24/7 and not just, as planned, rush hour only.
That said, the current configuration is more or less what MacrG showed is happening in Verdun, with bus users having to cross the bike lane to get to the sidewalk.
I can’t imagine there would be room for a bidirectional path – imagine getting off a bus and stepping basically into a two-way bike lane…
Actually, I wonder if it might not be safest to have the configuration go (again west to east):
sidewalk – bus lane (traffic lane outside rush hour) – traffic lane – traffic lane – parking – median – bike lane – sidewalk
Yes, this would extraordinarily place the bike lane on the lefthand side of the street, but it removes potential conflict with bus passengers and, because it’s protected by a median, won’t likely lead to weird interactions with cars.
Would be so much more helpful if the city published a drawing – not a final rendering or anything, just a very simple plan – to illustrate what they’re thinking.
Seems smart to separate the bikers from the bus users, I wonder if they considered that. (You’ve got an extra traffic lane in your config).
In Toronto bikes aren’t allowed to pass buses or streetcars on the passenger side when the vehicle is stopped or they get a fine, but of course here we know bicyclists can’t even be counted on to stop for school buses.
Ian, true, but we also shouldn’t design an express bike lane that requires cyclists to stop every time someone’s getting on a bus.
I think public transit should take priority in any urban planning context, so I disagree. A reserved bike lane user still needs to stop at lights and hazards, this is no different.
Agreed, but why not design a solution that avoids or minimizes potential conflict?
Maybe they could build tiny bridges for pedestrians disembarking so the bicyclists wouldn’t be tempted to ignore them, creating potential conflict. How to keep the bicyclistds off the sidewalk though, that’s going to be a tough solution to design.
St-Urbain already has island bus stops at several intersections and they seem to work well. This will simply add them to every bus stop.
But yeah, I agree with Ian that there needs to be enforcement on pedestrian priority.
The 420 has a stop on Peel just before turning right on St. Antoine. I have seen way too many close calls with people stepping off the bus into the path of cyclists heading north on the Peel bike path.
It’s a $300 ticket for failure to stop at a stop sign. ‘Sayin.
Presumably one of the goals is to increase both bus ridership (so long, Pink Line) and cycling, meaning the need to solve the “cohabitation” problem is urgent.
The additional problem with St-Urbain is that it has a nice steady slope most of the way, I’m sure we’ve all witnessed people doing crazy speeds down it, and lord knows the bicyclist is not a fan of slowing down or stopping under normal circumstances because of the loss of momentum, so the sacrifice being asked for is a bit larger here, and thus increased danger for bus boarders/alighters. I wonder if there have been any accidents already, since as DeWolf mentioned there are currently some island bus stops on the route. Would be nice if tensions between users could be simply designed-out of the equation like Joey’s suggestion rather than asking humans to not be so humany.
Montreal has exported its drug‑dealing gangs to Quebec City, which ought to add to its louche reputation in the province.
Time to watch C’est comme ça que je t’aime if you haven’t already 🙂
Not just that, but these organizations (Profit Boyz, Arab Power, etc.) are clearly in violation of Charter of the French Language and Bill 96.
@thomas Depends on whether they’re incorporated federally or provincially, no? 🙂
@carswell True, but I believe they would still require a prominantly featured French language descriptor of the product offered.
They already had French-dominated motards if that was the goal, but hey.
A buzzy Globe and Mail piece tells about an intentional salon being held in the building that used to be Lux, now the Museum of Jewish Montreal. The Gazette had a shorter, less buzzy piece in December.
There is a great exhibit going on there right now, Shtetl in the Sun exhibit all these great photos of the Jewish community in South Beach in the late ’70s.
There is also a side exhibit about the Jewish architect (whose name I forgot) who designed many beautiful, functional residential and manufacturing buildings that define the look of Montreal.
@walkerp, do you happen to know the name of the architect in the exhibit. There’s nothing about it on their website (would it happen to be Max Kalman?)
Yes, that’s him! Thanks. It may be a semi-permanent exhibit, I’m not sure, it was just one one wall and I believe was also part of an exhibit at McGill. Some nice photos and history. He did the Sala Rossa building for example.
Weekend notes from CultMTL, CityCrunch and La Presse.
Driving grief on the weekend.
People selling used goods on Facebook Marketplace have met a wave of pepper spray attacks when arriving for the handoff. The SPVM offers safe areas for exchange, listed here.
Nothing in the 2 most populous boroughs.
The last remnant here of the 2011 Orange Wave, the NDP’s Alexandre Boulerice, is campaigning to keep his seat, Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie.
In 2021, Boulerice held the seat with 48.57% of the votes, but the NDP has not been doing so well in polling.
Meantime, La Presse looks at Papineau, where Justin Trudeau was MP for some years, and considers its prospects.
I lived in Rosemont at the time of the “Orange Crush” and voted for Boulerice. I moved by the time the next election came around, though. Polling seems to show that Rosemont-LPP is safely still orange, though:
https://338canada.com/24065e.htm
Papineau is likewise almost assuredly going to remain red:
https://338canada.com/24054e.htm
I wonder what Trudeau will do after politics, though.
I lived in his riding when he won the first time and moved the day of the election. It was the first and only time I’ve voted for someone who won in a federal election.
Two different NDP folks phoned me on Friday evening, urging me to vote for Niall Ricardo, who has (of course) a glowing bio on the party website. Anyone know anything about him?
From what I know of Niall, the bio’s accurate and truly represents how he lives his life. If you support those causes, he’s your guy.
And since the Cons and the Bloc have no chance of winning you might as well vote for who you actually support. The Libs are floating some ex-IBM CEO in Verdun, I can’t say I’m swooning.
Tim S., Ricardo sounds great, but he isn’t likely to win against Marjorie Michel.
It was interesting to hear the NDP people scrambling to find an acceptable counter when I suggested I might vote for Michel because she’s a woman and because she’s Black, and we need more women and more people from diverse backgrounds in Parliament.
I completely agree, but being a black woman isn’t a slamdunk – Look at Anglade, who basically made the ethnonationalism against Anglos even worse in an effort to woo nationalists to the LIberals.
Why is is it that ostensibly progressive liberals spend more time wooing the right than wooing the left? They always complain about the progressive vote being split, the solution seems obvious.
>…NDP people scrambling to find an acceptable counter…
Oh that’s great! Flip the woke card right back at them! I must remember that if they call me again.
I’ve voted NDP in the past; I was looking at ndp.ca yesterday, and I can’t even find their platform, except for 3 points under “Our Plans”. But it sure was easy to find their ‘equity statement’ (“to be read aloud […] at the outset of a meeting/event, after the Indigenous acknowledgement.”) Yeah, hard pass for me this election.
Nanos seat projections show them getting pretty much wiped out, so I guess I’m not the only one bailing from that ship.
If they called you twice, it’s a sign that their campaign is decently organized at least. The polls aren’t great for the NDP but I get the impression that support for Carney is a tad shaky. So who knows.
The NDP several times put up Christiane Paré against Justin Trudeau, it would be very Liberal to now emphasize diversity to justify the prime minstership of Mark Carney over Singh.
Tim S., soon after I first moved to Papineau riding, which had always been Liberal, a byelection brought in Vivian Barbot of the Bloc, who narrowly defeated Pierre Pettigrew in 2006. (Justin Trudeau’s victory over her in 2008 was pretty narrow too – 17,724 to 16,535.) Barbot was only MP for two years but the parties must have noted that the riding could be favourable to a Black woman candidate.
Under other circumstances, Papineau could go Bloc, as Lasalle-Émard-Verdun did in last year’s byelection, but I don’t see it happening this year.
Chris 09:51 on 2025-04-05 Permalink
It’s a surprise to me. Seems like much more than 15%.
Ian 10:12 on 2025-04-05 Permalink
well it is 15% on top of the 42% … that’s 48.3% overall in only 6 years.
Chris 09:52 on 2025-04-06 Permalink
Ian, yes, I can read and do math. 🙂 Kate’s quoted percentages are Quebec-wide, and only count sheltered people, so it’s an under-count for sure.
It’s obviously hard to get accurate counts of this stuff, and it depends on neighbourhood, but I maintain it still seems like way more than that around me.
Ian 16:11 on 2025-04-07 Permalink
You may read and do math but I guess you skipped the class on statistical distribution 🙂
MarcG 16:55 on 2025-04-07 Permalink
Perhaps it takes a few years of being homeless before you start ‘looking homeless’