Montreal in the 1960s
This thread is for photos of Montreal in the 1960s. Some quite interesting ones out there.
Here is one of Peel/St Catherine in 1964. The white building in the picture has been cleaned up and is an H&M today. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9f/bf...b0e43e8087.jpg https://www.pinterest.se/pin/560627853603913680 |
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The 1960s was definitely Montreal`s heyday. It was THE centre of Canada and the undisputed cultural, economic, financial, and social capitol of the country and Toronto was just a hick town.
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[QUOTE=ssiguy;8428582]The 1960s was definitely Montreal`s heyday. It was THE centre of Canada and the undisputed cultural, economic, financial, and social capitol of the country and Toronto was just a hick town.[/QUOTE]
Well, I wouldn't go that far... |
Some cool shots from 1961
https://lachinepeas.blogspot.com/201...-montreal.html |
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I think it held something like 9% of the whole North American market to itself. |
My folks (with my older brother and newly born sister) were living 3 or 4 blocks away on Mountain street (Rue de la Montagne) as it was called at that time which was actually full of residential apartments. This was just the year before they moved to the town of Ste-Rose (which would amalgamate into the merged city of Laval). I came later but I can still remember my parents recount the nice times of living downtown and how pleasant it was during that golden age.
I didn't personally experience but I enjoyed their tales of their time in Ville Marie. |
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I should say that English-only signage was very noticeable in much of Montreal (not just downtown but in much of the city), and it was especially striking how often French was totally absent. I am old enough to remember the time around when Bill 101 was adopted, and believe it or not while not predominant as in much of Montreal (which looked a lot like Toronto in many parts), English only signage was also pretty common in places like Hull-Gatineau (probably 80-90% francophone at the time) and even sometimes other parts of the province like Quebec City (97% francophone). Basically anywhere you had anglophones who operated and/or owned (or both) a business, regardless of what percentage of the local populace was anglo or franco, they often tended to operate in English only. Note that while Bill 101 was passed in 1977, it took a while before the new signage rules worked themselves fully into the visual environment. So older English only signs were still fairly visible in Montreal and other places well into the 80s and even into the 90s in some cases. Even today you still sometimes see English only "ghost signs" here and there. |
French had replaced English on most signage before 1977. It was however, very unjust that English long dominated commerce in a city that had been majority French-speaking, for most of its history (there were times that English speakers had a achieved parity and a few moments where they were perhaps a majority*, but for this we have to go back more than a century).
*http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/arc...apitre6-2.html |
I would tend to agree with most of what you wrote, Acajack, and have to admit that I don’t know much about the situation in Quebec City back then, or about that in Hull/Gatineau/Aylmer (although I became quite familiar with that region when I lived there, and in downtown Ottawa, from 1993 thru 2000).
Where my position might diverge somewhat from yours (but maybe not), having read your take on language issues in Montreal, over a number of years, is the following: while Bill 101 has certain merit in that there was inarguably an imbalance to be corrected, it’s extremely unfortunate that the people/party who brought in in were also those who were threatening to rip Montreal (largely against its will) along with the rest of the province of Quebec, out of Canada, and that in their radicalism and overzealousness, chose to bring in legislation not requiring bilingualism but banning it, and imposing an entirely fictional and unjust unilingual French face on what was at the time still Canada’s largest and most important city, and a city that, demographically was anything but French-only. This exacerbated and prolonged Montreal’s and Quebec’s linguistic divide and caused irreparable damage to Montreal’s (and even more so the Rest of Quebec’s) historical second language communities and institutions, that we are still struggling to bounce back from, or at least contain, in 2020. Not to mention decades of economic and demographic damage and stagnation it caused Quebec and particularly Montreal (which, thankfully, we finally seem to have now reversed and put behind us in the past decade or so - hopefully permanently). Quote:
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There is still resistance among older anglophones to really buy-in, despite having chosen to stay. On one hand, I kind of get it - they were accustomed to things that they no longer enjoy and that would make many people bitter. On the other hand... soyons honnête, and certainly as you mentioned, Bill 101 in some form was/is/will continue to be necessary. It's probably a large contributor to Quebec still being part of Canada today (if, of course, you're into that kinda thing.) I'm not sure the damage to the anglo community is irreparable. Retention of anglo youth is substantially higher than in previous decades because many are at least functionally bilingual and never really knew much linguistic drama to begin with. The population is making small gains, even if still in relative decline (though... the francophone population is also in relative decline). Personally, I find today's signage laws to be appropriate. I also agree that the language of work should reflect the collective population. In my honest opinion, and I'm certainly open to discussion, I only take exception with the odd kid from the US or the UK whose family is transferred to Montreal for work or whatever being made to go to French school. The transition is abrupt and the kid often suffers for it (I'm aware of the private-school loophole, often utilized to circumvent this). I really don't think that loosening this would open the flood gates to a wave of anglo immigration anyway. Have them go to french immersion to gain their bearings. |
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More to the point, I can understand why some Anglo-Montrealers felt the measures were mean-spirited. I mean, those weren't generous times in terms of attitudes about such things. |
The language laws were a necessary evil, and I do believe that they contributed to Quebecois feeling more secure in their language and culture. That said, most Anglo-Montrealers cherished their community just as much as did Quebecois their province. It is a real shame that the community is but a shadow of its former self (to say nothing of the nearly vanished Anglo community in the Eastern Townships), although I haven't got the time of day for any former or current Anglo dinosaurs that refused to learn/speak French.
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It's unfortunate that there was the exodus of business from Montreal after the election of the Parti Quebecois. I think Canada would be much more distinct culturally from the US if Montreal remained the centre of business and arts of this fair dominion.
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