Hey kids, we’re heading back to Montréal next month, and we’ll be living in a new arrondisement (borough) called Rosemont-La Petite Patrie (“the little homeland“). According to one source, it acquired the second half of its name from a novel that was adapted into a popular TV show:
… [Read More]The name of this district comes from a soap opera, broadcast in the 1970s, created by Claude Jasmin: La Petite Patrie.
Tomorrow, September 30th, is a statutory holiday in Canada called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
This holiday is meant as a day of reflection on Canada’s colonization of its indigenous peoples and the devastating impact of the Indian residential school program on indigenous families and culture.… [Read More]
Early voting started this weekend, leading up to Election Day on October 3rd. We’re relieved it’s almost over, but some Québécois are having fun with it.
Technically the equinox isn’t until Thursday the 22nd, but last week Montréal definitely shifted gears into greyer, cooler, start-to-hunker-down mode. Probably just the shorter days, but it seems as if the arms of the sky are closing after the wide-open embrace of summer.… [Read More]
Quebecers are fiercely proud of local folks who have achieved fame and fortune. There are statues in the parks of notable artists, poets, and writers, and you’ll even see streets or parks or cafes named after some of them.… [Read More]
A couple Mondays ago I walked up to the local épicerie to do the weekly grocery shopping (I like to go early in the morning, when our nightowl party street in The Village is quiet).… [Read More]
It’s election campaign season (about which I’ll write more later) and the whole town is covered in pictures of politicians’ faces. It’s against the law to deface political posters here–one person has been arrested already–but even so.… [Read More]
Manon has written here before about the -Phone Wars and Bill 96. It’s a complicated subject with a lot of historical, cultural, and emotional baggage. As an outsider, I mostly witness the controversy via stories I hear from other students in my Francisation class, and in discussions on the online Montréal Reddit groups.… [Read More]
