La Presse finds that most Montrealers are undecided on their vote in the November election, but Soraya Martinez Ferrada is in the lead for city mayor.
Updates from September, 2025 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
More Toula: she has a Walrus article asking whether it’s true that immigrant kids were often barred from francophone Catholic schools in the past – a story I’ve heard told various ways by friends and acquaintances too. Contravening the usual rule about questions in headlines, the answer here seems to be mostly yes, a policy that was turned around later, but only after a couple of generations had assimilated more to the anglo side.
dhomas
My dad was 100% turned away from French school when he arrived from Italy. They sent him to English school because his French wasn’t good enough. His French was non-existant, but then again, so was his English. It’s unfortunate because it would have been much easier to learn French, from coming from another Latin language.
Instead, he went to English school and passed down that eligibility to his kids and grandkids. My kids now go to school in an English school board school.Kevin
I have had several colleagues who went to French schools for kindergarten, only to have the principal round up all the non-Francophones on the first day and march them all to the closest EnglishProtestant school.
Joseph
When our family immigrated to Canada from Italy in 1963, the local French elementary school (a block away from our house) refused my brother and myself, saying that we would hold back the rest of the class. The English elementary school, about 1 km away, accepted us readily.
It worked out well because we went on to English CEGEP and university later in life.
Ian
I have middle-aged Greek & Italian origin colleagues that grew up in Parc Ex and were made to go to the Protestant school board. Let’s not forget that the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal was only replaced by the EMSB in 1998 (!).
I think this is one significant element that the historical revisionists are conveniently forgetting, the old school boards weren’t just French and English, they were (Quebecois) Catholics and everyone else. Tthe real power in school boards still resided with the Church until the Quiet Revolution and the school boards maintained that division until bill 101 introduced “ayant droit” in 1977. The “protestant” school board was a convenient othering, Same reason there were no French public libraries until after the Quiet Revolution – the Church suppressed them, not the Anglos. The ethnonationalists may as well blame “the fat lady chez Eaton”.
azrhey
So… I arrived in Canada in 1988 age 11. I was born in France where I lived until age 8 with my parents. We had moved to Portugal and about 4 years later we moved here. I spoke French fluently. Wrote it as well as an 8 year old could. My dad barely spoke Portuguese as he had been living in France since he was a child as well. But because I was arriving from Portugal and my last 3 years of school records were in Portuguese, we were told I had to go through at least one year of Francisation. No tests, no ifs, and no buts, go lose at least one year in Francisation. I remember both dad arguing loudly and me cursing in my best Parisian accent, but the lady said “C’est la loi! Ça fait 3 ans que t’es pas allée à l’école en français, faut te rattraper!” Thank the faiths I got a scholarship type thing to go to a private french school and not lose any time… nearly 40 years later I still resent that lady very much ….
Ian
On the subject of French instruction in general…
After a terrible experience at FACE with my 2 daughters, I opted to transfer my youngest to the local CSDM school for grade 2. Strategically, after she graduated from primaire we sent her to an EMSB high school to ensure that she would maintain her “ayant droit” status in case the provincial government changes rules around CEGEP admission. We don’t know if she will attend CEGEP in French or English, but wanted to be sure that whatever program interests her would be available to her regardless of which language it is offered in.
That aside, there are LOTS of Anglophone kids that are ayant droit at French schools in mixed neighbourhoods now. It’s to their advantage, as English language instruction is so poor in the French schools and the EMSB insists on French-as-a-second-language in the English system. Anglo and Allo kids oftrn come out of the French system more fully bi or trilingual than Francophones in the French system or Anglophones in the English system.
Of course we know that enthnonationalists view bilingualism as a threat to their culture, but lol.
Kevin
Quebecers are inclusive: their governing bodies are not.
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Kate
Time Out says the Plateau ranks among the coolest neighbourhoods in the world, a headline that gave me déjà vu, but it’s timestamped this week. And locals may remember a time when its vaunted nightlife and creativity had a lot more room to move around.
Ian
Time Out mostly focuses on restaurants, I guess as long as we maintain the ficiton that Schwartz’s is the best smoked meat the Plateau will always have some kind of “legendary local food” status. I also feel compelled to point out despite what this article implies, Fairmount Bagels are better. I do appreciate the tip of the poutine hat to Chez Clau instead of Banquise though!
Meezly
Well, they did their research it seemed. Reminded me that I haven’t visited the cutely named Joie de Livres. They’re definitely aiming for the 20 to 30-something crowd, but including Taverne Atlantic was a stretch as it’s not in the Plateau (clearly wanting a way to name-drop Justin & Katy!).
Joey
Taverne Atlantic isn’t in the plateau? It’s east of Outremont and south of Parc-Ex, no? Unless we’re considering it Mile-End, which typically gets included in what’s considered the Plateau, no? I guess Parc from Van Horne to Beaumont is a bit of a no man’s land….
Ian
Plateau ends at Van Horne, north of the tracks is Petite-Patrie
JPK
Yeah, but the ending of the write-up makes no sense; METLUS and Chez Ma Tante are how one should end the day in the Plateau? Something along the lines of “if you want to have a good time here, leave before the night’s over”?
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Kate
Donovan King has teamed up with Sophie‑Claude Miller, a Cree from Eeyou Istchee, to give tours of Montreal from an Indigenous perspective.
Nicholas
When I saw him with his official tour guide membership and her not, I was curious how well the current system serves this perspective. Well, it appears King did as well, after taking the ITHQ course and being part of the APGT tour guide association for two years:
“L’ITHQ demande près de 3000 $ pour la formation de guide. Et pendant celle-ci, le contenu autochtone était très pauvre. J’ai donc interpellé l’APGT après avoir obtenu mon diplôme. J’ai aussi souligné que, pendant la formation, 98 % des enseignants et futurs guides étaient Blancs… et j’ai fini par me faire expulser”, raconte-t-il. “C’est là que j’ai décidé de monter mes propres tours guidés, en dehors du circuit officiel”
Would it be a good idea if this Cree woman could give tours of Montreal from an indigenous perspective without either having a minder or taking a $3,000, 240-hour course taught by white people who know way less about indigenous history than she does? The city council has repeatedly said no, by taking no action on the status quo.
Paul
100%.
The guided tour lobby is a scam.Kate
A regular contributor to the blog has had the ITHQ training and speaks well of it, and I know he is not a scam artist. It’s all discussed in this rather long thread from 2023.
Nicholas
I remember. If the training is good, then I’m sure that even without a government-mandated monopoly, future tour guides would mostly take it, and use it to advertise their services. The public would mostly demand trained guides. But now there is no other option; I can’t go take a course from this Cree woman, or a Ukrainian-Montrealer elder, or a Jewish Montreal historian and then give tours; I need this too, another course taught by white people. A literal museum curator cannot give a tour of Montreal outside their museum grounds without taking this course. This is the only game in town.
Well, at least in the city; that tour I took from an old woman at the Westmount Historical Association was wonderful, but she had no licence, no regulated training. I guess I got suckered. As does anyone who takes a tour anywhere in North America outside Montreal, Quebec City or New York City.
Many US states require a licence to cut hair. It often requires over a thousand hours of institutional training, and thousands of dollars, and often ignores non-white hairstyles, coincidentally. Quebec doesn’t, surprisingly. I wonder how we as citizens are able to pick a good hairdresser without checking for proper licensing, like everyone here surely does for tour guides. And there are safety issues: hair dressers use chemicals on your skin, lawyers try to keep you out of jail, engineers build bridges. Tour guides ensure you don’t block the sidewalk.
Let me be more plain than I was two years ago. This is a cartel. It’s a way to keep the number of people offering tours down by forcing them to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to take a single course, offered once every two years (only if enough people enroll), to learn things that could have zero relation to what they want to give a tour of. And it applies not only to paid guides, but even one-time volunteers. If you start a restaurant and someone comes to your door and says, “Oh, you need garbage pickup, I’m sure you’ll love my guy, I know you’ll make the right choice,” we wouldn’t hesitate to call this what it is: a racket, a scam, extortion. This is government-mandated extortion, propped up by the current tour guides, to make it incredibly difficult and expensive for new people to give tours, because it would create competition. We should abolish this racket, and the association and school can compete in the free market by showing how their membership is valuable, and we can see what people decide.
Ian
Intersting that the fees for ITHQ training have gone up from 2500 to 3000 in only two years.
I’ve followed professional tours around Miel End a few times and every single time they got stuff wrong, and I don’t just mean telling them that Saint Viateur bagels are better or that Kem Coba is worth waiting in line 45 minutes for.
Ian
n.b. Miel End would be a great name for a Mile End boulangerie artisanale that replaces all refined sugar with organic honey, just sayin
CE
I’m the licensed tour guide Kate referred to. I’ve said what I have to say on the topic. I’ll note two things:
1. We don’t just make sure people don’t block the sidewalk, we’re responsible for the safety of the people in our groups, many of whom don’t really know how to navigate busy city streets. The training taught us how to keep people safe and minimize disruption for other users of the sidewalks.
2. Many of the guides you’ve seen in Mile End are likely not licensed. A couple American companies started doing food and walking tours around the neighbourhood and hire untrained guides. I’ve also listened to what they have to say and it can be pretty embarrassing. I’m not saying all licensed guides are amazing and all unlicensed guides are terrible, but based on what I’ve seen, the training generally makes for a better guide.
Ian
All good points. Is there any way to check if a tour guide is licensed. ie, do they need to carry it with them?
CE
We’re required to display our permit from the city while working. It’s a white and red card with a photo, usually worn on a lanyard. Some guides also display their APGT membership card as well, usually on the other side so sometimes you’ll see that card, depending on which side is visible. This year it’s blue and white with a picture of the Lachine Canal.
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Kate
No postal service Friday and limited transit.
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Kate
Excellent piece from Toula Drimonis on Quebec expecting gratitude from immigrants, and even from people born here who happen not to be white francophones.
This follows a recent dust‑up when Kim Thúy expressed her discomfort with politicians stoking distrust of immigrants, after which she was dogpiled on by the usual suspects and castigated for not showing enough gratitude for being allowed to live here.
“As if criticizing your home isn’t also a way of loving it,” as Drimonis says.
Ian
The typical ethnonationalist sabre-rattlers don’t want respect or gratitude, they want subservience and silence.
Meezly
I don’t read in French, so wondering if Drimonis’ opinion pieces ever get published in francophone media? She often responds thoughtfully to controversial French-language articles, but I’m afraid it may not have much impact if it’s only published in the Gazette.
Kate
Meezly, I know I’ve seen a few pieces by her in franco media, but can’t cite one right off. I’ll have a look around.
Daisy
I’m pretty sure her book was translated into French.
Kate
Drimonis’ first book, We, The Others has been issued in French as Nous, les autres. Her second book is called Seeking Asylum and doesn’t seem to be out in French yet.
I’m sure I’ve seen the occasional essay from her in French media, but I think usually they’re pieces translated from English. I’ll comment again here if I find out more.
Annette
Native-born citizens anywhere can’t possibly understand the disillusionment that arises from relocating somewhere, then paying close attention to local affairs for a few decades.
That slow, agonizing realization that you – the immigrant – maybe made a mistake. The place you’ve displaced your life & family to – a place where you’ve stuck it out despite all the downsides – might be hopelessly dysfunctional, irreparable. Or increasingly dominated by resentful, antagonistic folks who definitely don’t welcome you or your contributions, no matter how hard you work.
Thúy describes this as a ‘heartbreak’. An earnest, romantic notion from someone with status and mobility. Now imagine the hopelessness and self-blame experienced by less notable immigrants in this same scenario – those who’ve come to regret their life choices, but have insufficient means to alter course.
Uatu
There’s no pleasing some people. If she were an Anglo/Franco white dude she’d be “Quebec bashing” , but she isn’t so she’s an “ungrateful immigrant” instead. Okay got it.
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Kate
Weekend notes from CultMTL, Le Devoir, La Presse, CityCrunch, CTV.
It’s the Journées de la culture this weekend: Radio‑Canada has suggestions.
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Kate
The Longueuil woman who threw boiling water at a kid a year ago pleaded guilty to aggravated assault on Thursday.
Ian
She should have become a cop, she could have gotten away with shooting him.
Ian 19:13 on 2025-09-26 Permalink
Well the shine’s off PM, nothing is for certain. Losing Plante is a big deal as Rabouin isn’t as charming… it’s anyone’s game now.
Of course voter turnout is so low the real question is whose supporters are more motivated to actually go out and vote. Who that is could be anyone’s guess, voter intentions don’t mean a lot unles they actually get off their asses and go vote, which the majority do not – overall voter turnout was under 40% last time.
jeather 23:56 on 2025-09-26 Permalink
I prefer Sauve but really don’t want Martinez, and I’m not happy about this vote splitting.
walkerp 08:35 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
These polls are all nonsense, especially municipal ones and especially this early in the race.
Kate 08:36 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
jeather: likewise. Sauvé is a good dude but his party risks being the NDP in this race.
MarcG 09:16 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
Alternatively, it’s too bad that the other candidates & parties don’t get more airtime so that we have a true multi-party race rather than a mirror of the 2/3 party systems that dominate federal politics in Can/US.
Kate 09:26 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
The less we hear from Gilbert Thibodeau the better, I think.
Ian 09:44 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
@Kate “his party risks being the NDP in this race”
Some of us vote NDP in federal elections, becasue we believe voting on principles is more important than voting strategically. Some might go so far as to day that voting strategically is a cynical maneuver that runs counter to the spirit of democracy.
MarcG 10:11 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
What happened to Balarama Holness and Mouvement Montréal? Seem to be pretty quiet on social media. Jean-François Kacou and Futur Montréal seem to be making an effort.
The failure of strategic voting and equating liberals and leftism as both simply “not the baddies” has been well illustrated by the Carney govt so far.
Chris 11:37 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
Ian, everyone votes strategically. If we change electoral systems, we’d still vote strategically, just the strategy would change too.
Face it: the vast vast majority of Canadians did not want what the NDP was selling.
Ian 12:14 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
The vast majority of Canadians were scared of a trade war and Carney, a professional banker, was being sold as the only person who knew how to handle it – and PP’s only strategy was being anti-Trudeau which fell apart when Trudeau stepped down.
Carney got the Liberal and Conservative vote easily, and NDP supporters mostly voted strategically because they were scared of PP.
The “vast majority” would be very different if Trudeau had kept his promise to enact vote reform, but whatever.
My point stands, not “everyone” votes strategically. You seem to labour under the delusion that your opinion is shared by “everyone” and that’s proveably untrue – many still vote with their convictions. Regardless, voting strategically is treating governance like a horse race, and reveals a deep cynicism on the part not only of the voting public but also the governing parties that it is even presented as a reasonable thing to do.
Chris 14:45 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
>My point stands, not “everyone” votes strategically
Perhaps we don’t agree what “strategically” means. Voting for who you like best is one strategy, voting against who you hate most is another strategy. There are innumerable strategies.
>would be very different if Trudeau had kept his promise
This is probably the #1 thing I disliked about Trudeau, breaking this promise. I hate FPTP. But whatever other system we’d have, people will still strategize about who to rank first, second, etc. When the rules of the game change, it doesn’t mean people stop strategizing.
>You seem to labour under the delusion that your opinion is shared by “everyone” and that’s proveably untrue
I didn’t state any opinion at all, just fact. The *vast majority* of Canadians did not want what the NDP was selling. If the vast majority had wanted it, they would have won with at least a minority, or would have won any election, ever. Coming in 4th place, with 6.29% of the popular vote, even accounting for the “vote against PP” strategy, comes nowhere close to a *vast majority*. With a ranked ballot, I’m sure they’d have had more votes and seats, but still not a vast majority. You know majority means > 50%, right? You think they’d ever get that with 5 parties???
Tim S. 17:22 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
I don’t think Sauvé will get many votes, but he’s building both an impressive organization and a solid reputation for whatever comes next, especially if Projet turns out to have really run out of steam.
Ian 20:24 on 2025-09-27 Permalink
@Chris if you think all voting is voting strategically then “strategic voting” which does have a clearly understood meaning loses all meaning. You’re playing word games. What’s next dictionary definitions?
@ Tim S probably not this time, but even PM started small – and that Plante and Rabouin are being so reactive speaks volumes.