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Montreal, or Montréal in French,[4] (pronounced /ˌmʌntɹiˈɑːl/ in Canadian English,/mɔ̃ʀeal/ in International French, and /mɒ̃ʀeal/ in Quebec French) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ("Mary City"), the city had come to be known as Montréal by the 18th century, a name derived from the French Mont Royal ("Mount Royal"), the name of the three-head hill at the heart of the city. Formerly the largest metropolis of Canada (a distinction since acquired by Toronto), it is the second-largest French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, 1,620,693 people resided in the city of Montreal proper.[1] The population of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (also known as Greater Montreal Area) was 3,635,571 at the same 2006 census.[3] Montreal is ranked as the 15th-largest metropolitan area in Northern America[5][6] and 74th-largest in the world.
History
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribe wars, European diseases, and outmigration.[10] Champlain, known as the father of New France, founded a permanent French settlement in Quebec City in 1608. He would established La Place Royale, a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal in 1611, but the indigenous Iroquois repelled the colonists. Image:Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve.jpg Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, founder of Ville-Marie In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Ville-Marie, the first permanent French settlement on the Island, was founded in 1642 at Pointe-à-Callière. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve would act as governor of the colony, and Jeanne Mance built the Hôtel-Dieu, Montreal's first hospital. Marguerite Bourgeoys would found the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, Montreal's first school, in 1653. In 1663, the Sulpician seminary became the new Seigneur of the island. Complimenting it's missionary origins, Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. The bloody French and Iroquois Wars would threaten the survival of Ville-Marie until a peace treaty (the Great Peace, see and[11]) was signed at Montreal in 1701. With the Great Peace, Montreal and the surrounding seigneuries nearby (Terrebonne, Lachenaie, Boucherville, Lachine, Longueuil, ...) could develop without the fear of Iroquois raids.[12] Ville-Marie remained a French colony until 1760, when Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal surrendered it to the British army under Jeffrey Amherst during the French and Indian War. Image:Montreal in 1784.jpg City seen from Mount Royal 1784
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. These linked Montreal's established port with continental markets and spawned rapid industrialization during the mid 1800's. The economic boom attracted French Canadian laborers from the surrounding countryside to factories in satellite cities such as Saint-Henri and Maisonneuve. Irish immigrants settled in tough working class neighborhoods such as Point Saint Charles and Griffintown, making English and French linguistic groups roughly equal in size. Montreal would surpass Quebec City as the seat of financial and political power for both English and French speaking communities of Canada, a position it held for many years.[citation needed] By 1852, Montreal had 60,000 inhabitants; by 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada. Montreal was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill. Image:Bird's eye view of Montreal 1889.jpg Industrialized city 1889 After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol.[14] Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. Canada began to recover from the Great Depression in the mid-1930s, when skyscrapers such as the Sun Life Building began to appear. During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to ignore the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944). After Montreal's population surpassed one million in the early 1950s, Mayor Jean Drapeau laid down plans for the future development of the city. These plans included a new public-transit system and an underground city, the expansion of Montreal's harbour, and the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. New buildings were built on top of old ones in this time period, including Montreal's two tallest skyscrapers up to then: the 43-storey Place Ville-Marie and the 47-storey Tour de la Bourse. Two new museums were also built, and finally in 1966, the Montreal Metro system opened, along with several new expressways. The city's international status was cemented by Expo '67 and the Summer Olympics in 1976. The mid-1970's ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the separatist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in major political, ethnic and linguistic shifts. The extent of the transition was greater than the norm for major urban centres, with social and economic impacts, as a significant number of (mostly anglophone) Montrealers, as well as businesses, migrated to other provinces, away from an uncertain political climate. The Bill 101 was passed in 1977 and gave primacy to French as Quebec's (and Montreal's) only official language for government, the main language of business and culture, and enforced the exclusive use of French for public signage and business communication. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches. As the city celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1992, construction began on two new skyscrapers : 1000 de La Gauchetière and 1250 René-Lévesque. Montreal's improving economic conditions allowed further enhancements of the city infrastructure, with the expansion of the metro system, construction of new skyscrapers and the development of new highways including a ring road around the island. Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on 1 January 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referenda in June 2004. The demerger took place on 1 January 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal. GeographyMontreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec, approximately 275 kilometres (168 miles) southwest of Quebec City, the provincial capital, and 190 kilometres (118 mi) east of Ottawa, the federal capital. It also lies 550 kilometres (335 mi) northeast of Toronto,and 625 kilometres (380 mi) north of New York City. The city rests on the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is bordered by the St. Lawrence river on its south side, and by the Rivière des Prairies on the north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal. Image:Montreal - Plateau, day of snow - 200312.jpg Winter in Montreal sometimes brings large amounts of snow. Image:McgillMCTAVISHbroulliard.jpg McTavish Street on a foggy day Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions and thus the climate in Montreal varies greatly. In general, the climate is humid continental (Koppen climate classification Dfb). Precipitation is abundant with an average snowfall of 2.25 metres (84 in) per year in the winter. It snows on average more in Montreal, than Moscow, Russia. Regular rainfall throughout the year averages 900 millimetres (35.3 in). Each year the city government spends more than C$100 million on snow removal[citation needed]. Summer is the wettest season statistically, but it is also the sunniest. The coldest month of the year is January which has a daily average temperature of −10.4 °C (13 °F) — averaging a daily low of −14.9 °C (5.2 °F), colder than either Moscow (-10 ºC) or Saint Petersburg (-6 ºC). Due to wind chill, the perceived temperature can be much lower than the actual temperature and wind chill factor is often included in Montreal weather forecasts. The warmest month is July which has an average daily high of 26.3 °C (79.3 °F); lower nighttime temperatures make an average of 20.9 °C (69.6 °F) thus air exchangers often achieve the same result as air conditioners. The lowest temperature ever recorded was −37.8 °C (−36.0 °F) on 15 January 1957 and the highest temperature ever was 37.6 °C (99.7 °F) on 1 August 1975.[15] High humidity is common in the summer. In spring and autumn, rainfall averages between 55 and 94 millimetres (2.2 and 3.7 in) a month. Some snow in spring and autumn is normal. Similarly, late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a regular feature of the climate.[16] The Montreal region supports a diverse array of plants and wildlife. The maple is one of the most common trees and the sugar maple in particular is an enduring symbol of Montreal and Quebec, thanks to the production of maple syrup.[17]
Demographics
According to Statscan, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants.[1] However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006.[3] In the 2001 census, children under 14 years of age (618,855) constituted 18.06 percent, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (442,720) numbered 12.92 percent of the total population. Some 13.55 percent of the population are member of a visible minority (non-white) group. Blacks contribute to the largest minority group, numbering some 160,000 (5.16% of Montreal inhabitants), which is the second-largest community of Blacks in Canada, after Toronto. Other groups, such as Arabs (now estimated at 100,000 people), Latin American, South Asian, and Chinese are also large in number. (Chart on ethnicity on the left includes multiple responses[20]
In terms of first language learned (in infancy), the 2001 census reported that on the island of Montreal itself, 53% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 18%. The remaining 29% percentage is made up of many languages including Italian (3.6%), Arabic (2.1%), Spanish (1.9%), Chinese (1.24%), Greek (1.21%), Creole (predominantly of Haitian origin) (1.02%), Portuguese (0.86%), and Vietnamese (0.60%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.[23] The predominant language in Montreal is French, although many other languages are spoken by residents. Also, more immigrants speak French than ever, a trend that started after the introduction of the French language legislation during the 1970s.
The city of Montreal is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, however, church attendance is among the lowest in Canada.[24] Montreal society is one of the most secular in North America[citation needed]. Some 84.56 percent of the total population is Christian,[25] largely Roman Catholic (74.51%), which is largely due to French, Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran and other number 7.02%, while the remaining 3.03% consists mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group with some 100,000 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 2.96%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 90,000.[26] In some neighbourhoods of Montreal such as Cote St. Luc, Hampstead, and Dollard des Ormeaux, Jewish people constitute the majority,[27] or a substantial part of the population. As recently as the 1960s the Jewish community was 2-3 times as large, however, many moved to Toronto and other parts of Canada along with other non-French "white ethnic" Montrealers. AdministrationThe head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Île de Montréal (English: Montreal Island Citizens Union). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the primary decision-making authority in the city. It consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils. Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises the decision-making powers appropriate to it and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted by the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council. Standing committees are the council's instruments for public consultations. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. and its five constituent parts. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee. The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 3,839 square kilometres (1,482 sq mi), with 3,635,700 inhabitants in 2005. Montreal now constitutes its own region of Quebec.
CultureMain article: Montreal culture See Festivals and parades in Montreal Image:IMG 2669.JPG View of Montreal from McGill The cultural heart of classical art and the epicenter of many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theater halls surrounding a large open-spaced square downtown. The Place des Arts harbors the headquarters of Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO), which perform in its halls regularly. The MSO is one of the world's foremost orchestras, most remembered for the quality of its performance of the repertoire of Maurice Ravel under conductor Charles Dutoit. Since 2006, the MSO has a new conductor, the American Kent Nagano. L'orchestre métropolitain and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing home at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the city’s chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. In contemporary dance, Montreal has been active, particularly since the 80s. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The intelligent integration of multi-discipline arts in choreography of these troops has paved the way to the success of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil. Montreal is the cultural centre of Quebec, and of French-speaking North America as a whole. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theater, film, multimedia and print publishing. The Quartier Latin is a neighborhood crowded of cafés animated by this literary and musical activity. The local English-speaking artistic community nevertheless contributes dynamically to the culture of Montreal, and intense collaborations exist between all Montreal communities. The result is a dynamic musical scene, ignited by the presence of numerous musical festivals, that melts different musical styles and traditions. English theatre struggled but survived with the Centaur Theater. Ethnic theatre, by the 70s, began to be a force with the Black Theatre Workshop, the Yiddish Theatre established at the Saidye Bronfman Centre and the Teesri Duniya Theatre. In the late 90s, Montreal started becoming a veritable hotspot for low-budget independent English Theatre with companies such as MainLine Theatre, Gravy Bath Theatre, Sa Booge, Persephone, Pumpkin Productions, and Tableau D'Hôte Theatre warming up the once lackluster scene. The plaza on Place des Arts is the home of the most important events during several musical festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Montreal Francofolies, a festival of French-speaking song artists. During the seven-to-ten days that last each of the two festivals, shows are held in a wide variety of venues, from relatively small clubs to the large halls of Place des Arts. Some of the outdoor shows are held on cordoned-off streets while others are on terraced parks. The most popular festival, in terms of attendance, is the Just For Laughs Festival. A comedy festival held in both languages, it features comedians, humorists, and stand-ups from all over the world. The Montreal Fireworks Festival also attracts a lot of attention. On the evenings of competition, tens of thousands of people watch the fireworks for free on their roofs or from locations nearby the competition. Other festivals in Montreal include Pop Montreal, The Fringe festival and Nujaz. Montreal's night life is particularly dynamic. The most active neighborhoods then are rue St-Laurent, Downtown (Crescent Street, Sainte-Catherine Street), Quartier Latin (Saint Denis Street), and Plateau Mont-Royal. The city is increasingly becoming known for its mainstream rave festivals such as the Black and Blue Festival attracting thousands of ravers to the city every Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, as well as the Bal en Blanc held every Easter Sunday, also attracting over 15,000 attendees every year. Restaurants in Montreal are particularly rich of the contributions from the different cultural communities that live in the city. Jewish culture has contributed two of Montreal's most distinctive dishes, smoked meat sandwiches and Montreal style bagels. EconomyMontreal is an important centre of commerce, industry, culture, finance, and world affairs. Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.[28] Montreal is a major port city along the Seaway, a deep-draft inland waterway links it to the industrial centres of the Great Lakes. It is still the largest inland port in the world. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, it is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is the eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway and home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway. The headquarters of the Canadian Space Agency are located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); and the International Air Transport Association (IATA); as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields. It is also the leading Canadian city for its research output, fuelled in part by Montreal's four urban universities and numerous scientific research centres. Montreal is also a centre of film and television production, primarily but not exclusively for French Canadian productions. The headquarters and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada can be found here, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Montreal Jazz Festival, e.g), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural performance enterprise, the Cirque du Soleil. The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft's studio in the area. As of today (2007), the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First and many more. Every year, this industry is generating billions of dollars and thousands of jobs in the Montreal area only. Alcan, Bombardier, CGI Group, Air Canada, CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Power Corporation, Bell Canada, SNC-Lavalin, Hydro-Quebec, Abitibi-Consolidated and many other corporations are headquartered in the Greater Montreal Area. Sports
The biggest sport following in Montreal clearly belongs to hockey – and the city is famous for its hockey-hungry fans. The Montreal Canadiens are one of the Original Six NHL teams, and boast the greatest number of Stanley Cup championships at 24. The only other team in the four major North American sports leagues to have this many championships is the 26 titles of baseball's New York Yankees. Montreal is also the site of two high-profile racing events each year: the Canadian Grand Prix, and the Molson Indy Montreal of the Champcars Series. Both races take place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Île Notre-Dame. As of December 2006, NASCAR is in talks with city officials and the track promoter about a possible racedate for the Busch Series in August 2007.[29] The Montreal Alouettes of the CFL draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium. University football receives increasing support, with the McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal's Carabins playing in Montreal. The city's USL First Division soccer team is called the Montreal Impact. Montreal has also been slated to have a Can-Am League team beginning in 2008. Montreal was home to the major league baseball team, the Expos, until they were transferred to Washington, DC in 2005 and rebranded themselves as the Washington Nationals.[30] They played their home games at the Olympic Stadium. Montreal hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 particiants engaged in 35 sporting activities. They were the biggest sporting event in the city since the Summer Olympics of 1976. The Montreal games of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007 will be held at the Olympic Stadium.[31]
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