Living In Montreal Changed How I See Canada

When I was a kid in the 60s and the 70s, we couldn’t be served in French in Montreal’s large department stores unless you were lucky enough to find a French-speaking sales associate. French-speaking quebecers were truly second-class citizens in their own province.

Like some other allophones here who came to Montreal speaking better English than French, my perspective has changed drastically as time went by and I explored more and more of Quebec culture and learned French and started to associate myself with Quebec much more than with Canada. In parallel to that, I have observed Toronto's rapid descent into Americana as it has absorbed US values: sprawling, car-driven, bland urban development; rapid growth of crime rates; glorification and proliferation of gun culture and gun violence; hustle culture and profiteering at the expense of others as the new norm; disintegration of the social fabric; various ethnic groups barely interacting with each other on anything apart from financial and economic matters; replacement of human connection with networking 24/7; rampant mental health issues. And at the same time, I have been discovering the peculiar mixture of Nordic and Latin traits that, according to studies, French Quebecers share: emotionality, urge for human connection, outgoingness, love for children, a natural sense for boundaries and work-life balance on the one hand and a sense of community and social obligation on the other - and could not stop thinking that this was the perfect antidote to what Americans have become and English Canadians are very quickly becoming under the economic pressure of the States: unidimensional, uncultured workaholics numbing themselves down with soulless, recycled Netflix shows, always promoting their "personal brand", quickly forgetting what they were some 15 years ago. My biggest fear now, as I observe English take over Quebec slowly but surely, is to see Quebecers lose their culture and identity and adopt the same defunct and deeply conflicted "global" (US-exported, beautified and, well, shallow) view of the world. In a way, it's like seeing relatives marry each other and produce offspring with increasingly similar DNA and increasingly problematic health issues. I speak French everywhere I go and with everyone I talk to, I make an active effort to become as fluent in it as in some other languages I speak. English is the Amazon of this world, taking down businesses that are better than it purely through its sheer size and economic pressure smaller business cannot withhold, something Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, specifically warned against: as soon as any entity becomes larger than a medium size enterprise it needs to be broken down, otherwise it will start wiping out competition, including much better competition, due to the pure effect of scale, doing enormous harm to society and creating inequalities. And this is what many speakers of French feel subconsciously: this has never been a matter of language per se, but a matter of culture and identity, of not losing one's essence and uniqueness in the face of faceless globalization, which just happens to be represented by English today (could very well become Chinese in the next 50 years for all we know).

If independance could be seen as a failure on Levesque's part, I think his most important legacy is the nationalisation of hydroelectricity in the 60's. Even today, Quebec's power electricity bills are the lowest in North America, and to me, to create a nation, you got to think of technical stuff like this.

I’m a French-Canadian that grew up outside of Quebec and also spent time within the Anglo-Quebecer communities. I’ve spent so much time in the middle of these debates. People have a hard time realizing not everything is black or white and that both sides have good points. Much like the old buildings in the video I thing it is possible to preserve the past but also be accommodating and open to the new. Culture and languages should be protected but they should also be able to grow and change. One of the things I love about MtL is how so many people speak 2.5 languages Example: -native tongue + english + little bit french -native tongue + french + little bit english -english + french + little bit of other (whether that be a 1st gen immigrant parent’s language or something learned in school) - all your combos of bilinguals and trilingual

For English Canadians who want to understand better the Quebecois' historical claims, I usually the history of similar peoples like the Scots or the Irish. All three peoples had a distinctive language, religion, and culture than the English and were forced to integrate the English crown. There were some efforts made by the English to assimilate them and to eradicate their language and their culture. In all three cases, there was some discrimination based on language, religion or cultural group. In the late 60's and the 70's, there was a rise of nationalist movements in these three regions with some groups more violent or extremist than others. René Lévesque was part of the nationalist current. Like the independent movement in Scotland, René Lévesque's ideas still resonate with some Québécois to this day. Irish, Scots and Québécois all wanted, still today or at some point in their history, the same things from the dominant group (the English or the English Canadians): the recognition of their language, their religion, and their culture, and to regain some political and econimic autonomy regarding decisions impacting them directly. Now, regarding what should be the Quebec identity. It's a hot debate, especially among Quebecois. I have my own opinions but I know many Québécois don't share my point of view. The good thing about Québécois is they will keep debating until they reach a consensus. Might take a long time, though. Side note: You filmed a good chunk of your video in front of the office building of my former job. If I even go back to this building and I see a footprint in the concrete, I'll know it will be yours.

Parents immigrated to Montreal from Europe. I travelled the world and I love it here. Do we have problems? Who doesn't, but the mix of cultures and le joie de vivre is like nowhere else in North America. not even close. Its all about the people.

Cette vidéo est tellement appréciée ! Merci beaucoup de faire voir au monde que tout le Canada, surtout le Québec, ne sera jamais envahi par l'américanisation. Mais tout comme nous percevons toujours notre famille canadienne comme notre plus proche allié franco/européen. Vous êtes le modèle pour nous tous. ✌️💙

As a Montrealer, born and raised, I appreciate this video so much. I'm proud of my French, Anglo & Italian roots. It is an upbringing that could have only happened in Montreal. That uniqueness should be embraced. Its one of the many reasons Montreal is such a beautiful city. Keep up the great work!

Thanks for taking the time to make this video! As an ontarien who moved to Montreal recently, it’s really interesting to read about the history that was never taught.

Je veux habite au Montreal, mon rêve est de vivre à Montréal Je pratique français tous los jours. J’aime Montreal, J’aime Canada, 😍🇨🇦🇨🇦 Je suis Mexicain, je parle à peu français !! 🇲🇽

I've lived in Australia for the last 30 years, but I grew up in Saskatchewan in the 70s. Rene Levesque was always in the news at the time, so I heard quite a lot about him then....but it definitely wasn't taught in schools at all. There was always a lot of fear and resentment towards Quebec when I was growing up, all from people who had never been anywhere near it. It's probably why they don't teach anything about...Don't want to be giving anyone ideas. Also, I loved the rant at the end...and the shoes. The shoes are cool. :)

I love how your mind is opened. If each and every Canadian (french and anglo), and specially new Canadian would be a mind as open as yours, things would certainly be better. Do we have a nice country ? Absolutely. Could it be better ? Absolutely. INteresting to have watched your videos. Great work.

Hi Dan! I've loved your videos about Montréal, please continue doing it. Because of you, now I want to live there.

Fun fact about the Cathedral (in front of the SunLife Building): It is a replica of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, roughly half the length, half the width and half the height.

Nice. Very nice. Merci pour cette réflexion. Hate him or love him, René Lévesque was a real diplomat. Not a violent extremist leader full of hatred.

I love your videos. Free Thinkers .I'm from Venezuela moved to Montreal 21 year ago. I love walk around Montreal, learning about history and this city is so beautiful. Canada is a great Country. Free Country. Diversity is health and Wealth. Peace and Love

It's refreshing to see some young Youtuber approaching meaningful subject with an open mind and intelligent attitude. Keep up the good work, I'll be following...

I'm French Canadian or even better, Québécoise and even though I'm fluent in English, I will fight tooth and nails to protect the French in Quebec. Protégeons la langue française!

That building in the very beginning is called "Grey Nuns" and it's an old nunnery. It has a lot of past including a couple fires and a disease outbreak. It is now Concordia university's dorms for 1st year students!

René Lévesque was born in the Gaspé region, Quebec . From well educated professionals parents . René Levesque started law school but was hired as a journalist for the USA army during second world war.He was based in France ... René Lévesque was one of the most intelligent person , with a broad knowledge of the world during his journalism period in world war II . The last referedum was in 1995 , 28 years ago . Quebec as a disctinct society has always been ahead of its time and open to the world . The economy is stong in aerospace, engineering ( public transport, constructions, software ), finance, pharmaceutical, arts, technology, medecine, leader in artificial intelligence, special effects movies, hollywood movies, international organisations ( Civil aviation, climate change ( NORAD) , biodiversity etc) .Montreal has the largest urban park in Canada .