I have lived in Montreal my entire life. As a first nations (Mohawk) individual, I have always felt at home here. Especially since it was Kanien’kehá:ka Territory before being colonized by any Europeans.
But mostly because It has always been a multicultural metropolis even 375+ years ago. When the city was young, we had Scottish, Irish, English, French and First Nations all living together with many emancipated slaves from the States eventually migrating also. I think that is so compelling.
In other places all these people wanted to kill each other. But here, it was different, I find that incredibly inspiring.
IMO the best example of this is the Battle of Chateauguay.
>October 25th, 1813, near what is now Châteauguay, Quebec.
>The Americans are desperate to make a final push into Canadian territory and end the increasingly unpopular war.
The Canadian force, which consists of escaped African-American slaves-turned-soldiers, Indigenous warriors and French-Canadian militiamen, is clearly outnumbered.But in command is veteran soldier Charles de Salaberry. He uses his men's knowledge of the land, guerilla warfare and a crafty ruse to push the Americans back across the border.
All these founding nations came together to repel American invasion in 1812. The really cool part is the emancipated slaves knew American military bugle signals.
They used this to create false signals of approaching formations, intimidating the Americans into retreat. It's a fucking cool story, they likely saved the entire notion of Quebec (Lower Canada) from American annexation. These guys saved Canada AND Quebec 100+ years ago.
Pourquoi l’anglais est prioritaire sur ce sub d’une ville francophone?
