A Little History: The Island of Montréal

The Anglophone and Francophone cultures of Montreal have seemingly always been at odds, dating back to the mere aspect of colonisation of the city. There has always been a question of dominance of culture, and that is a dominant motif when it comes to the city of Montreal. However, despite the typically Francophone view that Anglophone culture does not belong in the city of Montreal, history would suggest that both cultures merit their place almost equally.

Irish immigration to Montreal has proved imperative to the construction of the city. Irish labourers were employed to build many essential aspects of Montreal life today. Irish immigrants were partly responsible for the building of many bridges, railroad tracks, and structures. However, the intertwining of Anglophone culture is more intertwined into Francophone culture than that. Many Francophone aspects of culture were actually adapted and celebrated by Anglophone cultures as well. In fact, Anglophones who adopted a more Francophone culture upon immigrating to Montreal were highly celebrated.

The best example of this is “’La Bolduc”, who was a very celebrated ‘Francophone’ recording artist. Although she sang her songs in French with a very Montreal-style type of French, she was in fact Anglophone. Not only was she an Anglophone, but she was an Anglophone from outside of Montreal, and was in fact Irish.

This displays a past of Montreal where the ‘mixing’ of Anglophone and Francophone culture was indeed celebrated rather than frowned upon. However, the evolution of this relationship has been effected by national feelings of insecurity and uncertainty. These feelings encourage a population to protect and maintain their culture at any cost, such as instilling new laws that attempt to choke other cultures out of existence in order to preserve their own. The evolution of this relationship has resulted in tension all the way to the quotidian level, despite the fact that in the past the two cultures were indeed celebrated by each other and depended on each other at some point.

Italian immigration to Montreal dates back to the 1890’s, but has continued for many years since then. Italian immigrants also appeared in different waves, separated by World War II.

The first wave of Italian immigration was greatly due to the economic status of Italy at the time. This was a time before fascism started in Italy, and it became difficult for Italian families to find good work in order to feed their families. This led to many Italians immigrating to Montreal, in search of labour.

What they found in Montreal was cheap labour, but labour that needed to get done, mostly relating to construction. Therefore, there was always a job opportunity available for incoming Italians. Because most Italians during this wave of immigration were illiterate, this cheap and difficult labour was one of their few job options. The Italian expertise in masonry was also observable.

However, during the fascist years of Italy, Italian immigration to Montreal dropped considerably. This was greatly due in part to the war and how difficult and dangerous it was to travel between countries. For Italy especially, who was under a fascist regime, observed very little freedom when it came to this period in history. However, after the war, Italy suffered the consequences of being aligned with the Germans, and many Italians needed to leave the country once more. Once again, Italian families who were having difficulty feeding their families and sustaining their livelihood in a newly devastated Italy turned to Montreal for cheap labour jobs that could keep their families afloat.

The Jewish culture in Montreal is rooted in the Jewish immigration that occurred starting in the early nineteen-hundreds. Although it was under extremely unfortunate circumstances, the Jews who immigrated to Montreal were very different from many other immigrant cultures because of the fact that they were mostly very well educated. However, the calamitous reason for their immigration to Montreal gave them a sense of urgency that undermined their capabilities.

The Jews at the time had been living in the Pale of Settlement in Russia, because they were not permitted to live outside of that region. At that time, the Jews were largely in a state of prosecution. Their urgency to emigration was intensified due to the pogrom, which was a large massacre of Jews living within the Pale of Settlement. This was the main motivation for immigration.

Once in Montreal, Jewish culture found its footing in the Mile-End, where these is still an abundance of living Jewish culture. One very prominent Jewish figuring whose origins are in Montreal is Mordecai Richler, who was and still is a very celebrated and distinguished English writer. His work is unfortunately scarcely celebrated in Montreal due to the fact that he writes exclusively in English. However, Jewish culture in Montreal has maintained its importance in the areas where it is significant.

Black culture in most of the world has a very controversial and difficult past. Unfortunately, this culture in Montreal is no different. Montreal’s treatment of Blacks within the city did reflect some common mistreatments that were happening in the United States of America, such as Blackface. However, Black culture still found its place in Montreal.

Most of Montreal’s Black culture is made up of individuals from Caribbean origin, but also include African-American and African immigrants as well. These individuals settled mainly in the Little Burgundy area. With the influence of African-American culture (mainly from the south), jazz became a very prominent part of not only Montreal’s Black culture, but Montreal’s culture as a whole.

In fact, although it was brought to being greatly in part by Black culture, some of the very first artists who recorded and performed jazz were white, due to their exclusive privilege and opportunity that was not shared by black individuals at the time. Over time, Little Burgundy became recognized as a home place for jazz, mainly because of all the prominent jazz artists it was ‘creating’, and many nightclubs were opened to honour this area. Many of these artists are still recognized today as some of the best jazz artists in history.

Montreal can be considered a cultural mosaic because of how many different cultures have contributed to its cultural makeup, and are still present to this day. What we know of today as Montreal culture is not intrinsically pure, but a mix of not only Canada’s past, but the world’s past as a whole. Montreal as a city has been culturally affected by the first a second world wars, international artistic development, and in many more aspects as well.

We can see examples of this in Montreal’s architecture and gastronomy. Architecture can often times be considered the backbone of a city. In Montreal, much of this backbone has been built by immigrants who have come to Canada for economic, social, and political reasons, but have often settled on jobs such as construction, masonry, and railway work. Therefore, it is possible to say that the backbone of Montreal is held together by immigrant culture, because much of the city’s original architecture still exists today. Aspects such as buildings and railroad tracks are strewn throughout the city to this day.

Food is also a huge part of culture in Montreal and it has also been influenced by many different immigrant cultures. A prime example of this would be Little Italy or Chinatown, where food is one of the main vehicles for culture. From restaurants to regular grocery stores, food is an essential marker of culture that litters the streets of Montreal, in every single and small part of Montreal. It is one of many ways for sub-cultures in Montreal to keep their culture and community alive. Both these aspects of culture are extremely prevalent in Montreal, and can be seen in every area.

Whether the roots of a building or a food are French, Irish, Italian, Asian, etc., Montreal is undeniably rich in history and has served as a blank canvas for the arrival of many different cultures.