Abdelkarim M., Zineb E. & Seddik

As you might expect, it sometimes takes a little discussion before winning the trust of the people I meet. For Abdelkarim and Zineb, things were simple. They spontaneously agreed to participate to my project. Zineb even graciously offered me some mint tea with homemade baklavas.

It was a real hot day when I met them at the Ile-de-la-Visitation Nature Park. Sitting on the grass in the picnic area with their son Seddick, they were finishing dinner. They say they plan to visit various parks in the area during the summer to know their neighbourhood better. The river is obviously not their beloved Mediterranean, but there still are beautiful parks along the shore in our area.

Abdelkarim lived for a couple of years in France, where he studied in engineering up to the master’s level. Like other people I've met, he then came to Quebec in the hope of better job prospects. To put the odds on his side, he even went back to university in his field in order to obtain a local degree. It was through a friend that he heard of Ahuntsic. He arrived here with his Québec selection certificate in hand. He was lucky to get through immigration procedures quickly and is now a Canadian citizen.

Abdelkarim was born in Algiers, his wife, Zined, in Djelfa. It was during a trip to Algeria that he met Zineb. Their relationship then developed via internet. Zineb joined him here two years ago and held a job briefly before her pregnancy progressed. Little Seddick, who is beginning to stand with the help of his parents, will soon make his first steps alone. He was born here in the summer of 2014.

Freshly graduated from Polytechnique, Abdelkarim is actively looking for an electrical engineering job. He told me he is ready to move to wherever a job will take him. Proofs of his will, he recently made exploratory visits to St-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Shawinigan through the organization Place aux jeunes en région. They said they like living in Quebec, but with a young child to bring up, the couple would consider moving to Alberta if Abdelkarim does not find a job here quickly.

I felt that Abelkarim and Zineb were very open-minded and strongly willing to build their future here with us. I hope that a Québec employer will also appreciate these good dispositions!

Zineb, Seddik and Abdelkarim in the Ile-de-la-Visitation Nature Park

Ralph Gregory S.

When I went to the Maison culturelle et communautaire in Montreal North for the opening of the artist Rose-Élise Cialdella’s exhibition, there was a young man with a fine presence that served drinks at the entrance to the exhibition hall. He told me with amusement that people sometimes found him a resemblance to PK Subban, especially when he leaves his beard grow a little!

Ralph Gregory Is called by one or another of his names. I imagine that his intimate friends know which he prefers. Let's call him Gregory for short, at the risk of being mistaken.

After holding a summer job in day camps, Gregory realized he could apply for the jobs offered by the city of Montreal. As a student, he holds a part-time job on call with right of refusal, which allows him to work without putting at risk his studies. His assignments are varied: from welcome agent at the Cultural Centre to surveillance of sports activities.

Born in Haiti, he first lived Ahuntsic after his arrival. He completed his primary school there before his family moved to Montreal North. His father originally came here alone, followed by his mother and then by the four children. Gregory is the third in the family. He completed a Cegep diploma in accounting and management and is preparing to undertake a Bachelor of Management program this fall.

A sportsman by nature, he loves basketball and soccer. He also goes to the gym, primarily for weightlifting. Musically, he prefers soft-rock and techno music. One of his favorite stars is David Guetta. Out of curiosity, I asked him who would be his Haitian idol. I expected to hear the name of a singer or athlete, but after a moment's reflection, he said, "Dany" in reference to the writer Dany Laferrière. This name might well have been the answer of a person born in Montreal asked to name a preferred Quebec personality!

I also asked him if after living more than half his life in Montreal, he felt more a Quebecer than a Haitian. He said he was not yet at that point. He did note however, during his last visit to his native country, that people did not all understand him as easily, although he still speaks Creole at home.

Identity issues are sometimes more complicated than one would think!

Ralph Gregory in Montréal-Nord's Maison culturelle et communautaire

Christiane T.

I noticed Christiane for the first time when she gazed at me over her shoulder as we crossed on a bike path. A few days later, we crossed again briefly at the water fountain in the Maurice-Richard Park, still best known as Stanley Park despite the Rocket’s eight cups! I found her tall. Her inline skates were for something in this impression. We hardly exchanged a few words, but I gave her a card with the contact details of my project, hoping she would later volunteer.

We met for this article on Perry Island. Christiane has been living nearby in Bordeaux for two years. Being a very active person, she enjoyed the cold weather last winter and the surroundings of the island to practice off-trail cross-country skiing on the frozen river.

While talking, we found some similarities in our life trajectories — born in Abitibi, arrival with the family in the West Island at an early age and roughly twelve years each as a resident of Plateau Mont Royal —, despite fairly different routes.

After studying communications studies, she turned to fashion and confection work. She has worked as a freelancer for many costume workshops, theater groups, etc. She has contributed to the creation of masks for Alegria, one of the productions that launched the Cirque du Soleil. It was during this mandate that she discovered a taste for work in three dimensions, such as the development of puppet accessories. She currently contributes to Toruk, the next Cirque du Soleil show based on the film Avatar by James Cameron. This is a big project that will start touring in the fall of 2015.

Mother of two teenagers who were raised in the Laurentians, she managed not to work summers while maintaining regular commitments the rest of the year. It was after her separation from their father that she arrived in Bordeaux. Since the youth are at a local high school, but the parents share custody, a home base in Montreal not far from Highway 15 seemed appropriate as the father still lives in the north.

I thought that the couple lived quite far from the city to come to work in the cultural sector. She then explained that her former companion was working in a totally different sector. When she told me his profession, I realized that he was a friend of one of my brothers! In fact, Christiane had studied with him in high school and also knows my youngest brother.

Small world ... As I have three brothers, she still has one left to meet!

Christiane on Perry Island

Nelly E.

I had originally planned to publish only articles about the residents of a defined territory. I must say I've already made two exceptions to that rule. At this point, Nelly made me permanently loosen it up. She insisted that its rigidity could make me miss beautiful meetings. I gave it some thoughts.

So here is Nelly.

Originally from Douala in Cameroon, she arrived in Montreal less than a year ago from France, where she lived for a dozen years. Her three sisters had preceded her there. She joined one of them in Nancy and they became roommates. While living there, she studied communication in Metz. However, it is in Paris that she had her university internships and found work, the people of the Northeast being, she says, less receptive to foreigners.

She would like to make a career in radio journalism, a profession she experienced in Paris among other jobs. Admitted here as a qualified immigrant, she made many efforts upon her arrival to find work in this field. In particular, she contributed as a volunteer to the radio program Magazine Centre-Ville at 102,3FM, a station for intercultural rapprochement. However, she soon found out that, contrary to what the immigration officers had told her, it is not easy as a foreigner, to make her place in the labor market. As she must make a living, she found a receptionist position in a training institute on Gouin Boulevard. It allows her to pay a modest apartment in the Plateau Mont-Royal. However, she has not given up upgrading her professional skills to improve her perspectives.

Arriving here alone, as she had departed from Cameroon in her late teens, she faces a double parting. It is indeed with a French companion, blond with blue eyes, that she had planned to settle in Quebec. He had initially enthusiastically shared her project, but cooled off as the scheduled date of departure got closer... Nonetheless, Nelly did not change her mind.

Surprisingly, it was her mother who told her about the possibility of a favorable reception in Canada, after hearing it from a person she met in Cameroon. To date, she believes that the people here are less stressed out than in France and that life can be better. For now, she hopes her mother will visit her, as she has already done in France with her sisters earlier this year.

I met her while she was talking in a park with a Congolese nun she met at a retreat in Rougemont. I thought that being the granddaughter of an evangelical pastor was perhaps for something in this recent friendship. She tells me that her friendship with Maria Gabriella rather stems from the fact that she is a true and kind person with whom she shares a similar vision of life.

Nelly E. in  Tolhurst Park