#iseemtl

The self-made man does not exist. We all need coaching. The guy who coined the phrase “self-made man”—and I’m pretty sure it’s a guy, because Wikipedia says it was either Frederick Douglass or Benjamin Franklin—was probably a jerk, a liar or a wiseass. Why? Because the self-made man, much like the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus, does not exist. Although it would be nice if Santa Claus was real… but that’s a whole other story.

We have all, at one time or another in life, encountered at least one person who helped us on our path: perhaps a parent, a mentor or a coach. Interestingly, the word “coach” originates from the Hungarian word kocsi, which was a type of carriage that transported travellers. A coach that guides us in life is… well… a life coach. Is it not important then, that each individual gets the life coach he or she deserves? The answer is yes. But it’s a factor that’s often overlooked.

Needless to say that in 2013, the graduation rate in Montreal was no higher than 73.4% after seven years in high school. Also needless to say that the drop-out rate in certain Montreal schools exceeds 50%. Obviously, these trends help perpetuate the cycle of poverty. It also needs to be said that most of our institutions, in response to these concerns, sensibly and massively invested in creating extracurricular and sports activities within the school. This is an excellent idea because we know that half of a child’s academic success depends on the development of non-cognitive “life skills”, such as confidence and character, and that sports activities actively contribute to building these skills.

Sports, as a metaphor, is like the school of life. You work with your teammates to face adversaries together. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but you always learn something about yourself and others. Character gets developed by learning to respect the referee’s decision even when his ruling is wildly off the mark. In sports, you get injured, but you get up again. Most of the time it’s physical, but there’s always an emotional component.

However, those entrusted with helping youth develop life skills in the context of sports—coaches—do not have adequate training. This is appalling; especially in light of research showing that a coach is the most influential adult in a young athlete’s life, after his or her parents. Is there, consequently, a missed opportunity, especially in disadvantaged areas, to leverage a youth’s motivation for sports and help improve their chances of academic success? Question asked, question answered.

So many young athletes are motivated to play sports, investing themselves body and soul. For those who are having trouble keeping up at school, they may find motivation in their academic success and invest in that. But this will only happen if their coaches prioritize this success and provide the necessary tools to make it happen. Research has shown this to be true time after time… For concrete examples, there are many such coaches here in Montreal.

In basketball, Martin Dusseault is doing great work at Jeanne-Mance High School, as is Alder Pierre at Lucien-Pagé High School. These coaches are not only involved in the lives of kids on their own teams. Thanks to their leadership, they have also built programs that benefit dozens of other young athletes every year.

Wouldn’t it be cool to develop the leadership skills of a group of life coaches entirely dedicated to helping youth succeed in school? To create a model that could be applied to several sports and could even be exported beyond Montreal?

 That’s why For 3 Points wants to engage in the daily work of turning sports coaches into life coaches. Even if they are motivated on the playing field, kids still need a coach off the field too.

Don’t forget. Like Santa Claus, the self-made man does not exist. Happy holidays!

Seeing Montreal through the many lenses of the directors, photographers and other creatives who find inspiration in our city. Or use Montreal to inspire. Our local filmmakers truly bring to life the unique outlook that Montrealers have on the world. 

Source: C'est pas trop tôt!

It’s not surprising to see why the i see mtl movement has been so successful. So few in this world have the chance to see their city chronicled from every perspective; to see their public spaces, restaurants, neighbourhoods and parks on the big screen, anchoring narratives both fictional and real.

Images, static and moving, help us take ownership of a city like Montreal. When we see Montreal everywhere, it becomes our own. Our city. It’s almost as if Montreal has been staged. By a team of set builders.

From north to south

On an island bordered by images, in the north we have the NFB and its many innovative projects: namely, the StopMo app, which is being praised from St-Denis street to Cupertino, A Journal of Insomnia and Fort McMoney. In fact, the future of Canadian cinema has been evolving here, on the edge of the TransCanada highway, since 1939.

On the southern edge, Mel’s Cité du Cinema and its 18 stages has helped bring some of Hollywood’s most recent big successes to the screen. The producers of X-Men, Source Code, The Aviator, The Day After Tomorrow, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and White House Down all chose Montreal for the quality of its infrastructures, but foremost, for the quality of our creative image makers.

Ideas and places

Thinking in images is also thinking about images. When it comes to innovating for the future of this industry, there are several watchdog institutions, including Canada Media Fund, SODEC and its new president, Monique Simard, who champions digital, Bureau du Cinéma and Télévision du Québec, which, under the directorship of Sylvain Lafrance and Pierre Moreau, can look forward to some heady days in the coming years. 

But seeing Montreal would not be possible without the number of theatres that showcase our city. Some even legendary! There’s the Empress Theatre in NDG — which inspired a project submitted to i see mtl — Cinéma du Parc, Cinéma Beaubien… and, why not, Cinéma l'Amour, which celebrates 100 years this year! For more improvised venues, there’s the Moment Factory’s Megaphone project, which actually projects ideas on the cityscape. A story that fits the setting!

Talent everywhere

When it comes to filmmaking in Quebec, there’s no shortage of talent — Xavier Dolan, Denys Arcand, Jean-Marc Vallée. Their memorable works are being feted on the red carpet and winning well-deserved awards at the Oscars and at Cannes. Each one, however, is backed by an army of creatives and other producers who are reinventing the image and how it is interpreted across all media. Innovative companies, include, but are definitely not limited to, Turbulent and Attraction Images, as well as TOXA, FarWeb, Toast, Saga and others.

Between these two complementary industries, there are also countless meeting places for the image-minded. Montreal has no shortage of festivals — MUTEK, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma and Rencontres Internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) — that provide a hub for discussion and exchange, for experimentation, feedback and immersion. 

If we are truly in the era of images, the lenses of Montreal creatives will continue to keep our city on screens around the world. This tradition, and the creativity that grows from it, provides us with a promising and extraordinary opportunity to show the world how truly unique our city is.

Voir Montréal. À travers les innombrables lentilles de ces réalisateurs, de ces photographes, de ces créateurs d'images que Montréal inspire. Qui s'en inspirent. Le cinéma d'ici est le miroir de ce regard unique que portent les Montréalais sur le monde.

Source : C'est pas trop tôt!

Il n'est pas étonnant qu'une initiative comme je vois mtl connaisse un tel succès. Peu de citoyens en ce bas monde ont eu la chance de voir, justement, leur ville ressassée dans tous les sens, leurs places publiques transposées à l'écran, leurs restaurants, leurs quartiers, leurs parcs, imaginés comme autant de lieux où se déroulent réalités et fictions.

L'image et ses mouvements permettent l'appropriation d'une ville comme Montréal. En voyant Montréal partout, Montréal devient nôtre. Notre ville. À nous. On dirait que c'est arrangé. Avec le gars… le gars des vues.

Du nord au sud

Bordée d'images, au nord, par l'ONF et ses projets novateurs : son application StopMo, célébrée de la rue Saint-Denis jusqu'à Cupertino, le Journal d'une insomnie collective, Fort McMoney. Tout cela se passe au bord de la l’autoroute 40 ; depuis 1939, l'avenir du cinéma canadien s'invente ici.

Au sud, Mel's, la cité du cinéma et ses 18 studios de tournage, où certains des plus grands succès cinématographiques hollywoodiens récents ont trouvé ancrage : X-Men, Source Code, The Aviator, The Day After Tomorrow, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button et White House Down ont choisi Montréal pour la qualité de ses infrastructures, mais surtout de ses artisans de l'image.

Des idées et des lieux

Penser l'image, ce sont aussi des images à penser. Pour cela, des institutions novatrices veillent sur l'avenir de l'industrie, comme le Fonds des médias du Canada et son escouade de veille, la SODEC dont la nouvelle présidente Monique Simard s'est fait la championne du numérique, ou le Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec qui, entre les mains de Sylvain Lafrance et de Pierre Moreau, connaîtra ces prochaines années des jours fastes.

Mais voir Montréal, c'est aussi et surtout nombre de lieux de diffusion qui permettent à Montréal d'être vue. Des lieux parfois mythiques, comme le Cinéma NDG — qui a fait l’objet d’une action présentée à jevoismtl — le Cinéma du Parc ou le Cinéma Beaubien… et pourquoi pas, le Cinéma l'Amour, qui célèbre cette année ses 100 ans ! Ou des lieux plus improvisés, comme Mégaphone, ce projet de Moment Factory qui nous proposait littéralement de « lancer une idée sur la ville » . Belle mise en abîme.

Des talents, partout

Lorsqu'on pense aux créateurs d'images, au Québec du moins, nous viennent en tête une foule d'individus talentueux — Xavier Dolan, Denys Arcand, Jean-Marc Vallée. De ceux-ci, on retient les oeuvres, le tapis rouge. Ils reçoivent les honneurs qu'ils méritent, aux Oscars et à Cannes. Derrière eux toutefois, c’est aussi toute une armée de créateurs et de producteurs qui réinventent l'image, et sa déclinaison d'un média à l'autre. Des entreprises innovantes, on peut en nommer des dizaines, de Turbulent à Attraction Images, en passant par TOXA, FarWeb, Toast, Saga, et d'autres encore.

À cheval entre ces métiers complémentaires, des lieux de rencontre se multiplient. Sur ce plan, Montréal n'est pas en reste, et ses festivals, nombreux — MUTEK, le Festival du nouveau cinéma, les Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal — sont autant d’espaces de rencontres et d'échanges qui agissent aussi comme lieux d'expérimentation, de rétroaction et d'immersion.

S'il est vrai que nous entrons dans l'ère de l'image, les lentilles des créateurs montréalais promettent de faire voir Montréal. Cet héritage et la capacité créative qui en découle constituent une chance immense, une opportunité extraordinaire de révéler notre unicité au monde entier.

When I arrived in Montreal, I had my waitress CV and a list of areas, downtown core and Old Montreal, that had a critical mass of restaurants. At the time, Pullman had just opened its doors and there was also BU. I dreamed of working in one of Montreal’s two (only?) wine bars, but they weren’t looking for help. Since I didn’t want to work in tourist restaurants either, my options were few. But then I had the good fortune of making a contact at Leméac. That was ten years ago.

Photo : media.foodnetwork.ca 

Since then, I’ve watched the influence of the restaurant scene grow in this city. Years ago, I remember hearing about two guys who wanted to open a restaurant not in the Plateau, not even in Old Montreal, but in Little Burgundy. Everyone knew that end of town because of Atwater market, but would anyone go there for dinner? Joe Beef put this neighbourhood on the map!

And that’s how it all started—the trend of opening restaurants off the beaten path, that is. We also see more and more eateries being opened by young chefs (used to be a rarer thing) and this new generation is not afraid to find new places in which to build their businesses. Of course, the Plateau institutions, like l’Express and Pied de Cochon, are still standing, but there’s also Tapeo in Villeray, Chez Roger in Rosemont, Hotel Herman on the Main, Pastaga on the edge of Mile End and Park in Westmount. St-Henri is also exploding with new names, notably Grumman 78 on de Courcelles. Every year, the map is growing!

Some say that there are too many restaurants in Montreal, but I think this is a positive thing. Montrealers now have their very own restaurants. We are keeping the scene alive by choosing neighbourhood restaurants that reflect the local vibe. We live next door to these establishments and notice every change. We visit and revisit them, talking about them as if we were the owners. Because these restaurants belong to a neighbourhood, we’re more apt to adopt them in a way that wasn’t possible even a few years ago. Today, as restaurant patrons, we’re able to wander the city and always treat our taste buds to something new. To recommend restaurants that we know others will feel at home in.

This passion for our favourite restaurants greatly benefits those of us who work in the industry; an industry in which financing is hard to find. It’s no wonder then that restaurant owners aspire to go beyond the usual avenues and use their resources in more niche locations. Montreal and Montrealers will continue to make it all possible.

Partie 2 : Eating out, yesterday and today

In addition to Montreal’s celebrated culinary innovators, the rich array of flavours found here was also developed thanks to the influences and traditions of different cultures that have immigrated to our city over the centuries. Montreal’s culinary history is fed by the past, but it’s also creating a rich future. Here’s a tasty overview of Montreal’s great institutions.

Classic eateries, past and present

Montreal’s reputation for culinary excellence was founded by world-renowned establishments like Schwartz’s, said to be the oldest delicatessen in Canada. It has even inspired an eponymous musical comedy! Founded in 1928, this famous Jewish deli has always stood in the same place on the Main and come rain, come shine, expect a line-up under the big orange awning. When you’ve have your smoked meat fix, it’s time for bagels from St-Viateur or Fairmount (pick your allegiance carefully!). Another Jewish culinary tradition that has reinforced Montreal pride around the world.

But new traditions are also being born every day! An evening at Martin Picard’s restaurant Au Pied de Cochon, will have you sampling foie gras poutine, pulled pork shepherd’s pie and pig’s head for two. These great reinterpretations of classic Quebec dishes are renowned across the island of Montreal. Poutine gastronomy, why not!

Photo : schwartzsdeli.com

For the last two years, Montreal summers have been spiced up thanks to a cavalcade of food trucks! Montreal street food had been banned since 1947, so when it was reintroduced, we didn’t opt for cheap hot stands. Instead, the city greenlighted a variety of succulent menus created by talented chefs and served from colourful trucks. Whether you get raclette to go from Boîte à fromages or the legendary tacos from Grumman 78, there is something for every taste and every mood. Our food trucks have truly brought culinary creativity and renewed joie de vivre to Montreal streets. 

A new generation of culinary entrepreneurs is committed to serving local and seasonal fare, putting the focus on fresh ingredients and simple preparation. There’s Freshmint, which prepares and delivers healthy meals to your office in less than 30 minutes. Out with fast food, in comes quick food! And then there’s DOSE, organic and raw juices that are freshly prepared and delivered just in time. 

Another recent arrival is Cook It , which delivers fresh ingredients to your door to help you make delicious that will impress the whole family. The freshness geeks at Provender connect local farmers with chefs in order to encourage food diversity and use of 100% Quebec-grown ingredients in our restaurants. Small-scale farmers and producers can finally do more to stimulate the taste buds of Montrealers! In fact, many customers are also members of  Conseil des industries bioalimentaires de l’île de Montréal (CIBIM), an organization that promotes SMEs in the agricultural sector.

From the garden to your table

Montreal is becoming increasingly known as a “green city” that prioritizes sustainable development. This trend is best seen in the large array of local food products. When Montrealers need to stock up, we head out to Jean-Talon or Atwater market, but visit the Marchés Publics de Montréal website to discover more! There are some 15 markets selling fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as providing opportunities to meet local producers across the island of Montreal. 

Lufa Farms offers a very pleasing hybrid between urban life and country fresh. Located across the city, Lufa’s rooftop greenhouses grow fresh, organic produce for our citizens. The idea was born in Montreal but like Bixi, has since spread south of the border. A more recent arrival, SecondLife is committed to reducing food waste by giving ugly fruit and vegetables a second chance. Eating healthier at a reasonable price, all the while encouraging local producers. Something to be proud of!

When in Montreal, you feel a passion that goes beyond a simple love of good food. Discerning palates travel from around the world to taste what our culinary talents put on the table. Meanwhile, our local entrepreneurs are reinventing how food is grown, and festivals and innovations abound. If you don’t believe us, there’s more than one chef willing to impress you with a breadth of delicious food choices.

My best memories of winter are not from my childhood. Even if I fondly recall squirming into snow pants and packing snowballs, the round surfaces etched with the patterns of my woolen mittens. I only learned to love winter as an adult, when I moved closer to the mountain and began to wander the city for hours, no matter the season. It was on these walks, my scarf encrusted with ice, that I learned to love the rhythms and landscapes of our city in winter.

But before you call me crazy and stop reading, know that like most other Montrealers, I also question whether we need the month of February. I too have uttered swear words when my eyeballs sting from the intense cold. The winter tests my patience and stresses me physically, but I still love it. That is, I think it’s a privilege to live in a city with four seasons.

In addition to the magic of watching nature transform, of learning to respect the cycles of death and rebirth, winter is a season for self care. Winter encourages us to conserve our energies and snuggle up close. It forces us to dress warmly and eat well. It also marks a time for self-reflection—going inwards, literally and figuratively. An intense few months of change that force us to become more aware of the changes within.

Without the cold of winter, would Montreal be such a vibrant city come spring? Would our summer be so sweet if it wasn’t immediately followed by so much chill and ice?

If we can’t avoid winter, try to enjoy it more, I say. Things I’m looking forward to: hearing the snow removal trucks coming up my street, flashing lights illuminating the bedroom wall, the weight of a hot water bottle tucked under my sweater, walking home at night during a snowstorm, feeling like the last woman on earth. What about you?

Partie 1 : For your taste buds

Montreal’s reputation as a centre of gastronomy and epicurean pleasures is not a new development. Over the years, many festivals and events have evolved to confirm our city’s notoriety for quality cuisine. Here’s your two-part overview of what Montreal does best in the kitchen.

Taste the best of Montreal

The month of November is often associated with grey weather and early winter blahs, but thanks to the third annual Happy November, we can enjoy a series of events and festivals celebrating wine and gastronomy. Highlights include MTL à table, La Grande tablée and Fête des vins du Québec. All month long, there will be friendly gatherings and great food, all designed to help Montrealers cheer up before winter sets in.

The third edition of MTL à Table (October 30-November 9) features 135 restaurants, all of which are offering their delectable menus at budget-friendly prices to help Montrealers discover some new favourites. Have you sampled the festive ambience and superb sakes at Imadake? What about the Mediterranean flavours at Helena? This is your big chance to broaden your culinary horizons.

But our local gastronomic artists care about more than feeding discerning gourmets. Each year, La Grande tablée brings together talented chefs from all over Quebec to raise funds for La Tablée des Chefs, an organization that feeds and educates at-risk communities. A good meal for a good cause!

Quebec has long distinguished itself for its wealth of local products. To celebrate “terroir”, Fête des vins du Québec offers both fine palates and beginner foodies a guided tour of our best regional flavours. Not to be missed between November 28-30.

Now in its 16th year, the Montréal en lumière festival is a welcome event for hibernating Montrealers who need a boost to survive the coldest season. The eclectic program is especially exciting for foodies, who flock to the unique fine-dining evenings. Two weeks of warming activities happening all over the city.

Experimental eating

Montreal’s culinary culture is also notable for its more experimental events that explore emerging food trends. One such event, In the Mouth, helps participants discover the art of food by exploring it through the senses. On the program: a series of dinners, stripped of formalities and with no menu, as well as an edible exhibit at the PHI Centre.

Chef and kitchen prodigy John Mike Pollock has been helping Montrealers rediscover the pleasures of the table for many years now. No mobile phones, no selfies and no Instagramming allowed at  Tripes & Caviar, an underground food club that features, shall we say, less popular animal parts. But there’s plenty to savour, sip and talk about while waiting for young John Mike’s famous dessert performance.

A festive idea born in the very nordic city of Helsinki, Finland, Restaurant Day inspires the community to create unforgettable moments around great food. Four times a year, ordinary citizens open a restaurant for exactly one day in a neighbourhood, field, park or home near you. If you’re brave enough, it’s a wonderful opportunity to discover new food, new spaces and maybe even make some new friends.

When Apéritif à la française, the much-celebrated annual event, decided to invest in our city’s neighbourhoods, the result was Apéros de quartier! Each event features a new restaurant or new ambience that gives Montrealers a new place to see and be seen. And of course, there’s Dîner en blanc, a concept imported from France made famous for its “chic picnic” concept. The kind of event that will help you see our public spaces in a whole new light.

Montreal’s eclectic ambience is deliciously reflected in the creations of our best culinary innovators. Behind each lovingly prepared plate, there is a passionate talent who, like so many other Montrealers, is constantly chasing new ideas and who wants to share this passion with all of you.

A Montrealer since birth, I came into this world at Hôpital Ste-Jeanne-d’Arc. I have also worked at Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur, cried at Hôpital St-Luc and given birth at Hôpital Ste-Justine… I have been fascinated with hospitals my entire life and that is evidently why I became a nurse.

Hospitals play a leading role in our personal histories, with so many family events occurring in a hospital. From my own history, I remember my Grandfather Desrosiers passing away at Hôpital Notre-Dame-de-l’Espérance and my Grandmother Desrosiers at Hôpital Jean-Talon, my ectopic pregnancy at Hôpital Notre-Dame, my daughter in the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur emergency room, my surgery at the Montreal Jewish Hospital and of course, my many internships at various hospitals as part of my training in the Université de Montréal’s nursing sciences program. Add the hospitals where I’ve worked and the list gets longer still.

Hospitals also loom large in our collective history. Jeanne-Mance, co-founder of our city, dedicated her life to building the first hospital in Ville Marie: Hôtel-Dieu. You can still see her statue in the hospital courtyard on the corner of St-Urbain and Pine Avenue. Adjacent to the hospital, there’s the mother house of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph order, which includes a lovely garden, girded by a wall that keeps out prying eyes (except that of the benevolent Mont Royal). The sisters of this order allowed me to visit the old chapel and the burial vaults. In order to keep their healing vocation, as well as the history of their community alive, the sisters have built a beautifully modern museum that dovetails nicely with the old stone architecture. So many unknown treasures to be discovered there.

Today, Montreal is writing a new chapter in its history with the construction of two mega hospitals, affiliated with the Université de Montréal and McGill University, respectively. This modernization project is already transforming our city landscape, with thousands of people soon to be orbiting these 21st-centuries technopoli. In addition to providing health care, teaching and research opportunities, the mega hospitals are also committing to innovation, technological development and the transfer of knowledge. The anticipated benefits and exposure will provide adequate fuel for Montreal’s future.

But one challenge faces us still. What will happen to the old hospitals once everything has been moved? Not every building has heritage cachet, but such large tracts of land require a responsible vision. Hôtel-Dieu and the memory of Jeanne Mance deserve exceptional care.