Mathilde-Hasnae M.

While passing by on Henri-Bourassa going East, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, some open frame structures in Pilon Park. Their roofs were partially covered with what appeared to be recycled steel sheets from old barns. On my way back, I went through the park where I read a poster announcing that "Le Marché du Nord" would be held for three consecutive Saturdays.

The following Saturday, a small market was effectively sheltered by these ephemeral constructions. This year is a first experiment, but it should be repeated in the fall of the years to come.

There were also on the same site a few modest canopies housing a parallel activity. Wondering what it was, I approached two women at the kiosk of L’Accorderie de Montréal-Nord, Mathilde-Hasnae and Isabelle. They explained to me that this was La place de l’engagement (the commitment place), an annual gathering of community organizations that cooperate with each other in Montreal-North. The event was held next to the Marché du Nord this year to avoid a dispersion of potential visitors. As they were on site to reach out to people, I only took the time to take some pictures. We agreed that I would meet Mathilde another day at the offices of L’Accorderie in the Îlot Pelletier community housing project.

So it was by a late Monday afternoon that Mathilde received me. She first took me around the premises of L’Accorderie and its food buying group, as well as around the collective garden of the Îlot Pelletier residential complex.

Mathilde was born of a Moroccan father and a French mother in Libourne in South-West France, near Bordeaux. She first earned a BA in Geography in Bordeaux, which included an internship at Plymouth in Southern England. While following this program, she realized that it was the issues of community development and international cooperation that interested her the most. She then studied in Paris, where she completed a Masters in Local Development. As part of her studies, she did an internship in Morocco with an organization devoted to the promotion of girls’ schooling in their communities.  It did so by finding the resources to contribute to the construction of schools staffed by local teachers.

She landed in Montreal three years ago to join her boyfriend of the time, who was already here to pursue his studies. It was also a bit because she was well aware that her friends and fellow students in France were only finding precarious jobs in her sector. Arriving here with a Working Holiday work permit for one year, she first did a five-month internship at L’Union Française, where she organized cultural activities for newcomers. Subsequently, she found her current position as animator at L’Accorderie, which was more in line with her academic background. Program after program, she was able to continue her immigration process from Montreal.

Although, like all immigrants, she is homesick at times, she believes to be in Quebec for good. She likes the relationships between people here. As she arrived in Montreal in January, the winter does not scare her. It must be said that, for many people, snow is better than the dark and damp greyness of Paris in January. She has also become an adept of cross country skiing and snowshoeing. What she likes the least in Quebec however, is the overly consensual spirit that reigns there, making it difficult to challenge authority. She also finds unacceptable the challenges to be faced here to see a doctor. It would be hard to argue that she is not pointing a major problem.

Musician at heart, she played the saxophone for several years and loves soul music. Today, she enthusiastically participates in a choir in Villeray, "La Clique vocale". This choir recently sang at a dinner-benefit show in Montreal for L’Accorderie Montréal Mercier-Hochelaga Maisonneuve.

At L’Accorderie, she divides her time between Montreal-North and Hochelaga. This organization aims to fight against poverty and social exclusion. It manages a service exchange network among individuals who use time as exchange value. Herself a participant, Mathilde can, for example, do one hour of housework for a lady that will offer one hour of singing lessons in return. The exchanges are not necessarily bilateral. The scoring system in effect allows her to tidy the home of another person, but to use her cumulated hours for the singing lessons.

Among the activities of the L’Accorderie, there are also collective exchanges, such as food buying groups. In Hochelaga, there is also a laptop loan program to fight Internet exclusion.

In closing, here is a message from Mathilde. If you have the opportunity to hear La Clique Vocale, pay attention to one of its members: Liliane Pellerin, a name to watch out for!

Mathilde-Hasnae in the collective garden of the Îlôt Pelletier community housing complex

Madeleine G.

Riding my bike on St-Michel Street on a Friday, large colorful knits wrapped around trees in the Oscar Park caught my attention. Just a few years ago, there would have been a few young women there, perhaps some boys, to claim, with a rebel stance, this gesture as a political act, a form of street art in wool. Surprise! These knits were rather announcing an activity of Montreal-North’s Cercle des fermières the next day.

I went back to the site that Saturday.

The first members of the group I spoke to were friendly and they invited me to the park’s clubhouse to see the exhibition they had prepared on the history of the Cercle des fermières du Québec and that of their local chapter. Although reluctant to be photographed, they allowed me to take a group photo with the firm promise that you would not see them on the Internet. Unhappy with my pictures inside, I suggested a second attempt outdoors, which proved more satisfying. It was then that Madeleine joined the group.

Here is a lady who is not afraid of the camera!

She explained that it was a great day for their group. They were celebrating the centenary of the Cercles des fermières du Québec, in addition to that of Montreal North. More importantly perhaps: it was also the first exhibition of the chapter in twenty years.

Madeleine is a Montreal native. Before joining the group, she was looking for an activity that she could share with her mother and sisters. It was her husband, a native of Saguenay, who suggested that they consider the Cercle des fermières. The chapter’s membership has been stable with just over a hundred ladies for ten years or so. Men can participate in activities, but cannot join the circle. It is becoming clear, however, that it will need to recruit new members soon, since almost all current are of retirement age.

Madeleine also invited me to visit the room in the basement. There I found several looms. One of them makes it possible to weave 72 inch wide fabric. As there are not enough requests to organize group classes, there are possibilities to learn weaving on a person to person basis or in pairs.

By chance, the provincial president of the CFQ was also present. She informed me that today, barely 2 % of the members come from agricultural homes. This figure perhaps reflects somewhat the proportion of farmers in today's society.

In unison, her colleagues told me that Madeleine had worked very hard to make this day a success. She is also the one who keeps the circle’s blog. You will find the site’s address under her picture. She does all of this on a voluntary basis, in addition to her work in property management. No wonder she was all smiles in front of the camera!

Madeleine in the Oscar Park with the Cercle des fermières

Éliane C.

Éliane reached out to me as I was strolling on D'Amos Street in Montreal North on a magnificent Friday. She was taking a break outside the Centre de Formation professionnelle Calixa-Lavallée between classes in Infographics and she wanted to know why I had taken pictures of her school. I told her I had simply taken advantage of the beautiful September midday light that illuminated the facade. As we had started a conversation, I asked her if she would agree that I take some pictures of her. 

Éliane currently lives at an uncle’s place, in Ahuntsic, for the duration of her studies. From her looks, one would probably think she is a real city girl. However, although she was born in suburban St-Hubert, she spent most of her life in various localities of the Laurentians and much prefers small rural towns to the big city.

Interested in Visual Arts, she worked at the Val-David Exhibition Centre. She had also started attending a Cegep level program in Visual Arts, but quickly realized that it was not for her. She also seriously considered becoming a tattoo artist and is equipped with the necessary equipment to practice this craft. Some friends bear traces of her trials on their skin. She finally turned to Graphics Arts. She wants to work for the web as well as for print. She dreams of seeing one of her creations on a large billboard.

I asked her if there were stars of the publicity trade who influenced her. She replied she drew inspiration from various sources: Web sites, such as that of Urbania, but also much from her teachers. She has good words for those of Calixa-Lavallée. Overall, she appreciates that they have a solid professional experience to share with students. She likes to hear them explain their creative process.

Éliane described her own process to me as a sort of artistic chaos. She needs a period of trial drawing and brain storming to let ideas and images emerge. However, she is confident in her ability to deliver sharp and clear work as a final result.

Éliane considers becoming a freelancer after her Diploma of Vocational Studies. The prospect of working on diverse projects and creating strong images that will touch and convince people strongly motivates her. She kind of likes the idea that advertising images are short-lived. Come to think of it, this is quite a departure from tattoos, which can actually be around a long time!

At the end of the program, which will culminate in an internship, she plans to return to Ste-Agathe. She will live there either with her parents or her grandmother and give herself time to build a clientele. Meanwhile, before she can return to a collectivity closer to nature, the Île-de-la-Visitation Nature-Park is her green oasis in Montreal.

Éliane on lunch break

Sébastien G.

There are people who may just be passing by a place, but will leave tangible, durable traces. Let me tell you about my meeting with Sébastien. He is the G in the BGL Contemporary art collective.

I had been very impressed with the model presented by BGL for their public art work project entitled "La vélocité des lieux" (the velocity of the place) when I saw it on display in the lobby of the Maison communautaire et culturelle de Montréal-Nord. This object, interesting in itself, announced a magnificent project. I therefore undertook to periodically document its construction during the summer of 2015.

I met Sebastien by chance on a scorching Wednesday when I arrived on the site to take progress photos. As in previous visits, I saw that a group of people was actively working on the construction. I noted that there was also this time a small team of video makers. I figured that the artists would be there for the shooting. Sure enough, when I approached the group, I was told that it was the case. His two partners, Jasmin and Nicolas, being up on the platform of a man lift, Sébastien kindly gave me a few minutes of his time.

In June 2012, the trio, which is well known on the national art scene, received an invitation, along with nearly 200 other artists, from the Public Art Bureau of the City of Montreal. Artists were asked to participate in a Canada-wide competition for the integration of a public art work at the crossroads of Henri-Bourassa East and Pie-IX boulevards. In October of that year, BGL received confirmation that their proposal was one of the five selected for the second phase of the contest. At this point, they had carved the first three-dimensional draft of the project out of cardboard with exacto knifes. In February 2013, three finalists were selected and were given a budget for the development of a pre-production mock-up of their proposed work. BGL’s very accurate model was elaborated by computer and provided a realistic rendering of materials. The members of BGL were ultimately proclaimed winners of the competition.

As their name is prominent in the Canadian Visual Arts world and since they are well represented in the major visual art collections, I thought, wrongly, that the group had previously won its share of public art competitions. Sébastien told me that to the contrary, after many failures, they had virtually pulled-back from such activities given the time and resources invested for meager results.

It is Nicolas, the only member of BGL based in Montreal, who is following the daily progress of the installation. BGL is in good company to make this happen. The group is supported by Boris Dempsey for the technical design and production of the work. It was he who suggested the entrepreneur who carries out the installation work that requires heavy machinery. In the end, many people will have contributed to this project, which also required the cooperation of many professionals from the Borough, the Central City administration and the MTQ. From the fairly substantial budget commanded by the nature of the project, far less will remain in the hands of the artists than the populist comments in the Journal de Montréal may suggest.

The work will be inaugurated on September 19th. I am convinced that “La vélocité des lieux” will become a lasting cultural and geographical landmark of Montreal-North.

Sébastien on the site of "La vélocité des lieux"