Category Archives: History and Culture

Expo daydreams & Montr̩al Magazine Рworth reconsidering

I came across an interesting little bit of nostalgia a few days ago, in the form of an online copy of Montréal Magazine dating back to February of 1967. They couldn’t possibly have had any idea at the time of just how successful Expo 67 would ultimately prove, yet were nonetheless optimistic hopeful it would get the new Montréal on the map.

Going through the magazine and I couldn’t help but wonder why the city doesn’t pump out more propaganda praising the people and places that make up our city. What’s more, 43 years ago they had no problem issuing a fully bilingual monthly review. But I bet you people would say it couldn’t, or shouldn’t be done. It seems as if we hit a high water mark that year and have been retreating, in some senses, ever since. We’re still a kinda-global city which occasionally makes itself relevant, but we seem to have a hard time sustaining interest the way we used to. Perhaps a result of too much navel-gazing, too much existential angst.

I hope these photos – none of which are my work of course – at least convey an element of the excitement felt that fateful summer, as all too many people have told me the air was electric, and everyone was really happy to be a Montréaler. Who wouldn’t? I always ask, despite not knowing what the sensation is like in real time. I suppose all I do know is that I prefer what I see above as to what I see below:

Though to be fair, Calder’s Man is an awesome monument. I just wish we had more and they were more prominent within the cityscape.

Leeroy Edwards has crossed into a new dimension; RIP

Photo credit: Martin Ujlaki

The Happy Wanderer has wandered off this mortal coil. I never spoke with him, never knew his name until quite recently, but I remember seeing him, here and there, in his unmistakable cosmic robes, staff and the weird magical way he carried himself (see comment by Air Canada pilot at the bottom of the Gazette article). This was a Montréaler sans pareil; an individual completely comfortable with himself and his world. And what a world he lived in!

Apparently, he circumnavigated the globe at least three times, traveled to upwards of fifty cities and took over 10,000 photographs along the way. He lived at the same address on Coursol Street since 1953, and watched the city grow around him as he grew into the city he loved. I hope the family preserves those photographs, I can only imagine what a unique perspective that camera benefited from, and what an amazing exhibition it would make. He certainly deserves it.

He was as much a fixture of the Métro as a fixture of the city’s great festivals, and was welcomed wherever he went. A tribute to the independent, free spirits of our city, he will be dearly missed but soon forgotten. L’Chaim!

Cultural Synthesis

Church of St-Micheal and St-Anthony, Montréal

This is a picture of the Church of St-Micheal and St-Anthony, in the Plateau neighbourhood of Montréal. Originally built for the largest anglophone parish in Montréal, the church initially served the Mile End’s original Irish working-class population. Completed in 1915, the church is particular for its generally Byzantine-style architecture, undoubtedly an homage of sorts to the Hagia Sophia, with a large copper-clad dome and a minaret. However, upon closer inspection you’ll notice traditional Irish symbols, most notably the ubiquitous shamrock, which take the form of reliefs and windows, among other things. In 1964, the church opened a Polish mission to reflect the change in local religious demographics. Today it serves a primarily Polish/Italian congregation.

So to recap: Montréal has a beautiful church built for an Irish population, in a Byzantine style heavily influenced by a massive cathedral/mosque in Istanbul. It serves a predominantly Polish and Italian congregation with additional services in Ukrainian, and is strategically located in Montréal’s Jewish/Greek/Hipster neighbourhood.

You gotta love how we do cosmopolitanism…

Sadly, this isn’t a joke…

Remember those fascists over at the SSJB Youth Wing and the Jeunes Patriotes du Québec? Well, it looks like they’re not entirely alone, as there’s a new group of right-wing extremists, and I’m not talking about Maxine Bernier’s half-hearted attempt at a comeback. These happy fellows are members of the Milice Patriotique Québecoise and seem to be well-acquainted with members from the RRQ and the rest of Québec’s backwards facing minority, which seem to have a fetish for death and destruction. If you listen to these people, they will tell you the Canadian Forces are preparing to invade Québec, slaughter the innocent, rape the land and inflict a genocide against the French. I thought it was a joke, but it seems to be somewhat legit.

Above is a video they put out, demonstrating their ability to play soldier. They are very good at playing soldier, my guess is that they’d put most 10 year-olds to shame with their impressive knowledge of crawling, running, kneeling, pointing, map-use and camouflage colour-coordination.

On a more serious note – do these people pose a threat to our society? A recent CBC Montréal story indicates that the group itself is purposely vague about who they feel threatened by, though its website and ‘promotional’ videos make it pretty clear they feel threatened, oddly, by the supposed presence of CSIS infiltrators and equally aggressive Anglo-extremist groups. Here’s a link to the Anglophone Patriots of Quebec, 17 members. And this is the seemingly dormant blog of the Defense Association of Anglophone Quebec. The MPQ also refers to a letter put out by the ‘Anglophone Assault Group’ which apparently sent a letter to Le Devoir in 1996 listing the sovereignists they intended on assasinating. The only reference I could find on Google was a reference in an article published in 1996 in Protem, the Glendon College newspaper (Glendon in a bilingual liberal arts college associated with York University).

All told, it seems as though this whole sordid affair is little more than a bunch of grownups feeling threatened by ‘the other’ and resorting to childhood fantasies of war, heroism and all that other shit. I can’t imagine these organizations are anything more than loose affiliations, but still – it makes your skin crawl.

The question is how best to respond to organizations of this type – extremist nationalists of any variety base their entire public image on the pretense of directed aggression against a self-described minority and the societal ideal of an individual willing to risk their lives in defense of the defenseless. But when the threat is imagined, there’s no limit to defensive posturing, no act nor preparation too extreme. In essence, it’s a carte-blanche for self-perpetuating extremism.

So I guess the bigger question is why these groups are reported on in the first place? I’ve always been critical of major anglophone media outlets in Montréal for covering the activities of the separatist fringe – drawing attention to them will only increase the fear, and the fear is ultimately baseless since these organizations have about an ice-cube’s chance in hell of carrying out a military action in defense of the people of Québec. Again, there’s no threat.

Slated for renewal – Grain Silo No. 5

Montréal's Grain Silo No.5

Montréal’s historic Pointe-du-Moulin and Grain Silo No. 5 has recently been purchased by the Canada Lands Corporation, and I for one am rejoicing, as this is a major step towards seeing a major renovation of several large properties in the Griffintown/Cité-du-Havre area. The CLC’s plan can be found here – this would be one of five sites destined for renovation. As iconic as this building is, the space is generally dead, and the South-Central re-development, which began in earnest ten-fifteen years ago in the Sault-aux-Recollets neighbourhood, needs to be propelled West to assist with the transformation of Griffintown, and later, Pointe-St-Charles. But I would hope that every effort is made to integrate Pointe-du-Moulin with the rest of the urban core, so public transit to this area will need to be ameliorated, if it is to become an extension of the city, as opposed to a segregated wasteland. Moreover, such a location seems ideal for a major tourist destination, and I know the idea of a multi-purpose museum (including ‘traveling’ exhibits from the city’s principle museums – I’m glad this didn’t go too far) at the site was batted about a few years ago. Spacing Montréal provides some analysis and some great shots of the complex, and Héritage Montréal has considered the site to be threatened for some time – I think it’s pretty clear the prominence of the site, and our fascination with the rugged beauty of it, the juxtaposition of an island of rusting industrial calm surrounded by the polished facade of the Old Port – a dark and quintessentially modern Montréal aesthetic. In sum, I’d hate to see condos here, but what’s for certain is that a massive industrial ruin is far from ideal given it may impede development around it. However, if it was a functioning building that retained the aesthetic of an industrial ruin, well, I could certainly live with that. For the time being, the CLC could do the city a favour and allow more access to the site. Public consultations next year won’t be worth much if the people don’t have a good idea about what’s feasible here, and what this space is like, up close and personal.

Montréal’s Close Encounter

With many thanks to the public broadcaster that put this up gratis on the interwebs; amazingly the public broadcaster didn’t have this video in their archives…

On November 7th 1990 a couple was out for a swim in the heated rooftop pool of the Bonaventure Hilton. Looking up, they saw a large metallic shape with several bands of glowing lights, slowly hovering around the as-yet still incomplete 1000 De la Gauchetiere. Alarmed, they contacted hotel security, which in turn contacted the authorities. Police arrived on the seen and a small crowd gathered on the roof. They were all seeing the same thing – an immense, aerial vehicle, slowly maneuvering around the tower. The constables contacted their brass, including the commanding officer of the local police station, who in turn put a call in to the military base at St-Hubert, and then to Mirabel and Dorval airports. Nothing on radar, no military exercises, nothing official and no idea what it was that, at least officially, 300 people saw that night. Over the course of a few hours, the object slowly drifted across the city, moving northeast before taking off over the Big O. The police even went so far as to turn off the floodlights at the construction site across the street – it made no difference. It was generally silent, and even caused a power failure in the East End.

Some argued that it was a highly localized type of Aurora Borealis, though as someone who has watched the famed Northern Lights, I can say that no one calls the RCMP or the Canadian Air Force for suspected Northern Lights, especially not high ranking police officers.

The following is a great video with additional interviews made by Canal D (so its en Francais), check it out and come to your own conclusions, but for the record, this one is still one of the most well-known unsolved flying object cases ever recorded.