Montreal
Montreal is a curious place for a European to visit.
On the one hand, it is intensely proud of its French cultural inheritance, its distinct history in relation to the rest of Canada, and its relative antiquity by North American standards.
French explorer Samuel de Champlain established the first European outpost here in 1611, near the site of the far older Iroquois settlement of Hochelaga, which had recently been abandoned, possibly as a result of disease, inter-tribal conflicts or the de-stabilising influence of Europeans starting to arrive in the St Lawrence Valley.
Centuries later, the old town of Vieux-Montreal with its magnificent Basilica remains as an island of 18th and 19th century architecture, reminiscent of many Old World cities, which strikes the European visitor as both strange in its North American context and yet very familiar.
On the other hand, Montreal is very much a lively and colourful 21st century North American metropolis, with a well-educated and multi-cultural population of over 3 million in Greater Montreal, home to major universities and a strong cultural sector ranging from architecture and design to the performance arts and a thriving film industry.
Indeed the many cultures and histories of Montreal are part of its fascination for a foreign visitor.
Many of us non-Canadians may be aware of the historic tensions between Francophone Quebec – including Montreal – and Anglophone Canada, and this debate still rumbles on. But as an English-speaking visitor today you will find the vast majority of people you encounter in Montreal – as in the rest of Canada – to be friendly and courteous, and remarkably tolerant of your attempts to speak atrocious half-remembered school French, even if they will often switch to English in a generous effort to establish just what on earth you are talking about.
And “New France” in North America is of course an intriguing cultural mix for any visitor to enjoy. Even that staple of Canadian cuisine, Timbits ®, can seem a little more sophisticated in French!
Of course, as in the rest of Canada, history did not begin with European settlers, and there seems to be a tendency towards a more overt public acknowledgement of the culture and history of the indigenous peoples of Canada – the First Nations.
Quebec province may also be subject to particular tensions in this respect, where Francophone aspirations towards even greater autonomy or independence have tended to conflict with a reluctance by many First Nations people to find themselves isolated from the rest of Canada in an assertively independent “French” Quebec.
This situation has been exacerbated on occasion by the province’s determined efforts to exploit Quebec’s abundant natural resources in areas still at least nominally under the control of First Nation people, a common source of conflict between government and First Nations right across Canada. Even today, the region around Montreal itself continues to experience periodic confrontations between Canadian authorities and local Mohawk communities over a range of issues.
It is not clear whether this acknowledgement of First Nation history will be transformed into more successful efforts to resolve the continuing tensions and stark economic and social disparities between many First Nation communities and the wider Canadian population.
But it is at least refreshing to see this important aspect of Canadian history – and a recognition of the continuing legacy of that history – increasingly reflected in the many faces that Canada presents to visitors.
And as mere visitors and tourists, it is good to be able both to experience the historic cultures of the First Nations e.g. at the excellent Pointe-à-Callière Museum in Montreal, and to be reminded that those same people and their history are more than mere tourist attractions: their history is not over yet, and their complex and often difficult relationship with “Canada” continues to develop outside the museums and souvenir shops.
Just like their French-speaking neighbours in fact.
“Yma o hyd” indeed.