Opinion: After 50-plus years away, the magic of Montreal still holds


In a very broken world, this country feels like one of the few remaining havens of sanity.

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A year ago, upon my return to Montreal after living in the U.S. for more than 50 years, I wrote about my love affair with this city. I’m back to report the magic still holds.

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Once the temperature hit –30 C in February, I confess to escaping to my farm in Benin, West Africa — but I missed the heartwarming camaraderie I found on the streets after the coldest moments here, when everyone rushed out onto sunny streets to greet one another. On my return in April, I happily rediscovered the friendly city I now call home.

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My granddaughter, visiting from the U.S., remarked on how safe and clean Montreal feels. She loved all the local Quebec food at Jean-Talon Market. I concur. I’ve also found the best “butcher, baker and candlestick maker,” plus a hairdresser, dry cleaner, fruit and vegetable monger, shoemaker, my favourite bookstore, dress shop, post office, restaurant, and picture framer, even an expert, affordable antique restorer. Life is happily arranged and for the most part less expensive than other places I have lived, with the exception of the telecommunications companies that overcharge for poor service.

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The bulbs I planted outside my apartment are blooming like crazy. A boxwood hedge lines the flower bed outside my living room window where I planted daffodils, allium, peonies and Russian sage, plus a few hollyhock seeds taken from a neighbour’s garden. All sprout healthily, birds chirp continuously, my world feels at peace, as I walk around my neighbourhood admiring all the well-maintained parks and flowers planted at virtually every street corner. They make my heart sing.

Inexpensive watercolour painting and exercise classes at a local community centre, cross-country skiing in Parc Lafontaine, birdwatching on Westmount summit, and the best bread in Montreal keep me busy and happy. I now arrange flowers at Christ Church Cathedral, teach English to immigrants and attend as many free outdoor events as possible during the summer months. This city is bursting with opportunity.

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Friends I made at McGill University many years ago have welcomed me back and I have made many more.

My blood pressure is lower, my good cholesterol rising, my diabetes well under control and the doctor positively ecstatic as he gave me the good news. Although I won’t have a personal doctor for at least two years, when I do need care, I can find it. I’m impressed with the energy and optimism of health care workers here, doing everything possible to make an overburdened, creaky system work as well as it does.

So why aren’t Canadians shouting from the rooftops about the good life here? Where else would you find Centraide billboards urging us to help relieve poverty: “Sans le poids de la pauvreté et de l’exclusion c’est fou comme on peut s’elever,” showing a young child leaping high into the air. A bank advertisement tells us: “It took courage to immigrate. Now let us help you achieve your dreams.”

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In a very broken world, this country feels like one of the few remaining havens of sanity. Complacency is the exact opposite of what we need to overcome the troubles of the world around us. With strength, courage and outspokenness I’m convinced that you, yes YOU, modest Canadians that you are, can help lead the way to something better.

At the very least, let us all take pride that we live in what is in my view the best city in the best country in the world. Perhaps I’ve lived too long south of the border, prone to exaggeration and hyperbole, but Montreal maintains its magical hold over me. It will on you too, if you let it.

Julie Dreyer Wang, a writer and landscape designer, runs Bio-Benin, an NGO that provides job training to young Africans in organic farming, restaurant cooking and beer making. She holds British, Canadian and U.S. citizenship.

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