I remember reading a translation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and being surprised at how many paragraphs Hugo dedicated to critiquing the architecture of Paris. He was very concerned with good buildings and bad, and the attention paid by the builders.… [Read More]
Category: History, Culture, and Politics
Even as I type this, thousands of hockey fans are preparing for tonight’s big game, where Montreal’s Canadiens (aka The Habs, short for habitant, a Quebec settler) will be playing the Sabres in the Eastern Division semi-finals.… [Read More]
We Enjoyed It But Have Some Questions
Hockey is to Canada what baseball and football are to the U.S. It’s a cultural touchstone and a massive revenue source for the sports industry.… [Read More]
It’s been a busy end-of-Summer. We’ve had some visits from out of town, and work has been taking up a lot of time.
A few weeks ago, Manon and I managed to get away to the Pointe-à-Callière 18th Century Public Market event.… [Read More]
Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, photo By NASA – NASA Astrobiology Institute Library of Resources: Sulfur biogeochemistry of the Early Earth at the Wayback Machine, Public Domain, Link
Rocks found in Quebec are possibly the oldest on earth, formed around 4.16 billion years ago during the first days of Earth’s geologic formation (you know, back when the planet was all volcano-y and melty and stuff).… [Read More]
The Resort
The eponymous mountain is one of the tallest in the Laurentians, with an elevation of 932m (3,058 ft). The Algonquin name for the mountain is Manitonga Soutana, usually translated into English as the “Mountain of Spirits.”… [Read More]
Le P’tite Train du Nord
At the beginning of the month, we went off for a weekend to Mont Tremblant, a mountain resort about 85 miles/135km north-west of Montreal in the Laurentian mountains (a.k.a.… [Read More]
A lot has happened since last I wrote here. These are some of the stand-out stories of the past six months:
There’s a new Prime Minister of Canada, for one.… [Read More]
In today’s follow-up to yesterday’s post about requiring French labels for specialty manufactured items, a little Quebec cafe near the border with Ontario has received a letter from the province’s French language authority saying the cafe’s Instagram posts must be in French–even though all their signage, menus, and Facebook posts are solely in French.… [Read More]
As language regulations tighten, manufacturers may be saying “adieu” to Quebec
As the 2025 deadline for compliance with Bill 96 creeps closer, retailers and manufacturers are signaling their anxiety about the possible effects.… [Read More]