A construction message sign at the corner of Montreal’s boulevard Monk & chemin de la Côte-Saint-Paul has been appropriated to caution drivers that they are entering a high confirmed case area during Montreal’s coronavirus springtime. Springtime in Montreal during a plague Spring in Montreal is normally a time to rejoice. Denizens of the city thaw…
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Language Integration Program for Immigrants As the province would like everyone living here to speak French, Quebec offers free French class for immigrants. Sound good? Well it gets better. To compensate for spending up to 30 hours per week attending the program (not everyone can afford to do this, of course), Quebec offers immigrants a…
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Respecting the laicity of the State: Judging a book by its cover If Quebec is your home in 2019, then you’ve heard of the CAQ’s controversial Bill 21, formally titled An Act respecting the laicity of the State. Laïcité, c’est quoi? What will happen when the bill becomes law? Probably the most significant effect will…
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Gastro in Montreal Colloquially referred to as “gastro”, I’d been hearing about this acute, transient illness Quebecers tend to contract during the fall and winter months. “Gastro” is short for “gastro-entérite”, which English speakers know as gastroenteritis. Since any form of evil goes by several names, elsewhere you’ll hear gastro referred to as “winter vomiting…
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Photo of the Vancouver Art Gallery by Duane Storey Xenophobic ecologists in Canada? My introduction to xenophobia in Canada occurred in the summer of 1992. The steps and lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery were a waypoint for wanderers, street kids, and other counterculturalists in the years before the city became a sterile playground for…
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Bill 9 targets skilled worker applications On 7 February 2019, the Coalition Avenir Québec (see my previous post introducing the CAQ) announced Bill 9, translated as An Act to increase Quebec’s socio-economic prosperity and adequately meet labor market needs through successful immigrant integration. Through the bill, the CAQ is seeking to adjust how the province deals with skilled…
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1. A million new permanent residents by the end of 2021 As displeasure with migrants / fear of immigrants spirals out of control in many nations, Canadians can take pride in a government that continues committing to more immigration. Each autumn, the IRCC revisits a 3-year plan and adjusts planned immigration levels for the coming years…
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Foufounes: the genesis of stories As someone who spent a considerable amount of time visiting Montreal in the early 1990s, this post is the first in a series of true stories recounting my 20th century experiences as a traveler in Canada. I am a different person now, and Montreal was a different city back then…
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Transnational Finances: Beyond the ATM In a pinch, you can access your foreign bank accounts at a Canadian ATM, but if you don’t specifically need cash, then this is certainly not the most convenient, frugal, or practical method of funding your residency. My first attempt at wiring a somewhat large chunk of change (in the thousands rather than…
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Canadian Immigration Attitudes, 2017–2018 According to the Gallup World Poll and the Environics Institute in partnership with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, recent surveys uphold that the majority of Canadians feel positively about immigrants and immigration in Canada, despite newly elected “right-wing populist” politicians in provinces like Ontario and Quebec (as well as formation of a new party, the PPC) who are prone to…
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