Martin U.

Martin has lived almost continuously since 1957 in what is now the Saint-Sulpice district. The only child of a Hungarian couple who met in Quebec, he was possibly the only allophone at Marguerite d'Youville school in 1960. He grew up nearby the Crémazie Boulevard and witnessed in his youth the demolition of houses on Lajeunesse and Berri streets to make way for the Crémazie metro station. He also explored the St-Hubert woodland behind the first institutions of what would become the Ahuntsic College in the late 60s. At that time, nothing of what is now the Domaine Saint-Sulpice was built.

At home, conversations were conducted in a mixture of Hungarian, French and English. His father, who poorly mastered French, had however managed to learn vernacular Portuguese with co-workers in Montreal at a job where that community was well represented. Martin takes pride in the quality of his written French. Still young, his mother, outraged by the speech level of a Director of the Marguerite d'Youville School withdrew him from that school and registered him at The Collège Français.

Today, he lives with a long time girlfriend from Saguenay and his son from a first marriage now lives on the North Shore. One would say that he is well integrated into the Quebec society. I would even say that he followed the ups and downs of our political life better than many of his fellow citizens.

This man who proudly poses with his camera is...an accountant. However, he is a real photo enthusiast who prefers photojournalism to art photography. He documents his life and that of his city. You can get an idea of his practice by visiting his Flickr site.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/martin_uj/

Christine L.

Unlike all the people I've shown you so far, I knew Christine a little from having played a few tennis games with her after participating in the same recreational tennis leagues. It was actually her that friendly waved hello as she was walking with her dog Charlie in the Raimbault Park while I was looking for volunteers for photos. I told myself why not ask her to pose for my project.

This is how I learned that she works at a business aviation services company in St-Laurent near the airport where she occupies an environment, health and safety manager position. She recently moved to Cartierville to get closer to work. She is now able to bike to work part of the year. A good portion of this trip, from O'Brien Avenue to the vicinity of Place Vertu, is today feasible via well planned bicycle routes. Still, she has all the same to cross Highway 40 by the Côte-Vertu overpass, which in the gives her 10km or so by one-way trip. Well enough to keep a woman fit!

You will perhaps be surprised to learn that one can study environment in Alberta. This is what Christine did at the University of Calgary. It must be said that there are many employers in the private sector there that should be concerned with environment, whether by their free will or by social pressure. For a good ten years, she lived a traveler’s life, partly for work, but also for adventure. Thus, after Western Canada, she went to Chile to for some long hikes in the mountains. Combining pleasure and necessity, she managed to find work there as a mountain guide.

It was the arrival of her daughter that took her back to Montreal, her hometown. Having been baptized in the Church of la Visitation de la Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie, where her parents were married and where her grandfather sang, her return to this borough, where she still has family is a return to her sources.

Christine L.


Danielle L.

Despite having long been a resident of the South Shore, Danielle has roots in the Ahuntsic district since childhood. She came here regularly to visit her grandparents who had moved in a home near the Nicolas-Viel Park in the early fifties. Upon their deaths, her father acquired their residence as rental property which he kept as rental property for nearly 25 years. Today, it is Danielle who is the proud owner of the place. She moved into this same dwelling two years ago, after having completed major renovations. 

She is a social worker in a general hospital affiliated to a medical faculty. She is attached to the Department of Obstetrics. Through this job, she meets and assists numerous people.

It is precisely in the Nicolas-Viel Park, on a beautiful Friday early in the evening, that I have met Danielle. N'zi, her husband, and her were sitting together at a picnic table between the children's games and the edge of the river. They were chatting quietly, enjoying the start of what promised to be a beautiful summer weekend. A frequent visitor of this place in her youth, she said that she could remember wading in the water on the banks along the park to pick leeches with a little boy who lived upstairs of her grandparents. In my mind, I would more easily relate this type of activity to a muddy lake somewhere in the Laurentians or in Lanaudière!

I wonder what the two young friends were doing at the time with the leeches they had caught.

Danielle in Nicolas-Viel Park

Danielle in Nicolas-Viel Park

Historical Note

 Until the 50s, there was a brook that flowed into the Rivière des prairies not far upstream of the park. The idea was raised at one point in the public discussion about the Programme particulier d'urbanisme (PPU) Secteur Henri-Bourassa Ouest that its course should somehow be remembered. I imagine that the surface of the park and the banks of the river have undergone some significant changes with the passage of years.

A click on the title below will take you to a bird's eye view of the area at the time.

Source: Les Archives de Montréal

Noure C.

I hesitated a moment before approaching Noure, whom I met in the Parc de la Merci, near the Perry Island CNR bridge. She was cautiously filming with her mobile phone a crowd of geese and ducks in the river while her Sister Hiba was throwing food at them. When a seagull cockier than others flew very close to Hiba and disrupted her, the movie ended and I was able to talk to Noure without worrying about interrupting her.

Noure is studying humanities at CEGEP level in Montreal. Being a good listener, she leans towards the practice of psychology.

She was born in Casablanca, Morocco. Her family came here with the hope that she could be cured of a tumor in one eye. After some years and three operations for her, the whole family became fond of life in Quebec and is now installed here. After many moves, including some in Montreal North, she now lives in Laval with her mother, Hiba and another sister.

When invited to describe herself in a word, she thought for a moment and then replied: "A surprise box". She then explained that she does not like to feel the judgment of others and that her personality is revealed in its true light only when you take the time to know her better.

 She is unique.

Noure on the shore near Perry Island