Questions about Quebec

[Caliguy2005]

Hi Everybody ! i'm an American living in California,but i'm planning to visit Montreal sometime this year and i plan to stay for about 2-3 weeks,so would i need a passport?

i also wanted to ask if i plan to live in Quebec is it required that i learn French?

[malek]

no and no :)

that simple.

[Lostboy]

You don't need a passport between America and Canada at all? Nice arrangement.

[habsfan]

my suggestion to you is, if you do come, make sure you're here in the summer months(May to september) Try to avoid the second week of June(it's the Formula 1 grand Prix week) Hotels are booked solid and the city is loaded with tourists.

If you're in Montreal, you don't need to know french as most of the city is bilingual, but it can be helpful!

A passport...when I used to go to the U.S.(before 9/11) i never needed a passport, but since then, i always bring it with me, it makes things wayyyyyy easier at the border!

[malek]

should've known about the passport, they kept me for around 1h at the border... f********

[VAN-TO]

i also wanted to ask if i plan to live in Quebec is it required that i learn French?

No, but you would need at least decent French to live & work in Montreal. However, English is fine if you're just dropping by for a couple of weeks.

[Tosco]

?Why did you choose Montreal?

[Caliguy2005]

?Why did you choose Montreal?
Because i read about the tolerance of Gays and Lesbians in that city and Montreal has one of the largest Gay and Lesbian population in the world,so i would rather move to a city that will make me feel welcome and not threatened....here in America,there are very few states,cities or towns that tolerate Gays and Lesbians,but i still feel that Canada is more open to Gays and Lesbians than here in the U.S...I love the United States,but i can't keep living my life in the closet...in Canada i would feel very much free to be true to myself.

[BigDan35]

Because i read about the tolerance of Gays and Lesbians in that city and Montreal has one of the largest Gay and Lesbian population in the world,so i would rather move to a city that will make me feel welcome and not threatened....here in America,there are very few states,cities or towns that tolerate Gays and Lesbians,but i still feel that Canada is more open to Gays and Lesbians than here in the U.S...I love the United States,but i can't keep living my life in the closet...in Canada i would feel very much free to be true to myself.

If you want to stay in the US and feel "comfortable" in a city why not move to San Francisco?

[habsfan]

Gay or not, you'll love this town.

[azzurri.chris]

If you want to stay in the US and feel "comfortable" in a city why not move to San Francisco?

Yeah dude, San Francisco is like, right there!!!

[Tosco]

If you wnt to go farther than Montreal, there´s a city in the south of Spain full of them: Cadiz

[Caliguy2005]

i wanted to thank all of you for your replies....yes San Francisco has a Gay and Lesbian Population,but i've always been attracted to Montreal...i've always wanted to try living in Quebec ;-)

[habsfan]

Well, like I said earlier, I'm sure you're gonna love it!

[elsonic]

we already love you :kiss:

Montréal is an extremely pleasant city to live in, french or english. it's safe, cheap, compact, full of culture, beautiful victorian streets. and the Village is huge.

these will be your new tools for activities :
http://www.hour.ca/
http://www.montrealmirror.com/
(weeklies available everywhere)

[Tosco]

You will love Montreal!

[rtbedm]

Visitin Montreal and not being able to speak french is fine. But if you want to live there, then i would recomend learning French. Its better to be able to speak the native language in the city that u llive in.

[habsfan]

If you do decide to live here, after a while you'll understand enough french to get by, and maybe in a little while you'll even be able to talk the language.

But Like I said earlier, most Montrealers are bilingual!

[MTL-514]

Visitin Montreal and not being able to speak french is fine. But if you want to live there, then i would recomend learning French. Its better to be able to speak the native language in the city that u llive in.

actually Montreal has 2 native languages - english and french

but it is true that if you can speak at least bit of both of them, you can truely fully enjoy the experience of living in montreal.

[big W]

I won't comment on the size or issues of the gay community in any city as I have no idea what its like as I am not part of it, I don't pay attention to what is happening on that front (I follow the Trudeau mantra - the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation, thus what ever or whomever you do its not my business). I will say this, even the most conservative parts of Canada are much more open than most of the US on this issue.

Now for the rest of the issue at hand. You can easily get by in Montreal with no knowledge of French. However it helps especially if you go to the burbs, where in some instances nobody speaks english.

As a side note for those who have taken French in school, and want to go to a French speaking area to practice it, Montreal is not the answer. Well the core is not anyways. I know for myself when I went to Montreal (I studied French for years in school but had no spoken for 4 years at this point) and when I started to speak in French everyone would just cut me off and speak in English with me. Go to other parts of Quebec to practice your French, you will then get a chance to do so. Oh and don't go to the Gaspe or Northern New Brunswick, I could barely understand them as the accent is so different.

[Caliguy2005]

Thank you all for your responses :-)

I didn't get to visit Montreal in 2005,but i hope i will be there next year and i will try to learn some French :-)

[samsonyuen]

You should bring a passport, because border security post-9/11 is tougher now, and it just clears hurdles. You don't need to speak English, most people speak it well.

[montrealais]

Passports: It's best you have one. Technically it's not required, or at least it didn't use to be; you just needed photo I.D. But now it'll save you hassles and it may have become required; I haven't been following too closely.

This goes for a visit, btw. If you are planning to immigrate to Canada, the procedure is, as you can imagine, complicated. The difficult part is achieving "landed immigrant" status (similar to being a permanent resident in the US). This is done on a point system that takes into account such things as family in Canada, job opportunities, training, knowledge of English or French, etc. Check out http://www.cic.gc.ca/ for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, but note too that Quebec has its own system for immigration.

Queer community: I and everyone else I know are grateful to live in Montreal; there are a great many resources for Queer people and our community is respected. Sexual orientation is a prohibited ground of discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Civil Code of Quebec, and as you are no doubt aware, we now have the freedom to marry throughout Canada.

As for the city, to a certain extent a lot of the Queer scene is based around clubbing, which is great if that's what you're into. If not, digging a little deeper you'll find a lot of activity outside the clubs, such as discussion groups, sporting groups, etc. Check out the events pages of the Mirror and Hour; Fugues magazine, available in the Village (the Queer neighbourhood, around Beaudry metro) has a complete listing of monthly events, though it's in French. The universities (especially McGill) have very active Queer groups.

French: French is the official language of Quebec and is one of Canada's two official languages. It's best to know some French if you are going to be staying here long-term or living here. Most people in Montreal are bilingual, there's a substantial Anglophone community, and getting by in English isn't usually a problem; but for job opportunities and to get the most benefit out of Montreal's social life, speaking French is important. There are plenty of places to learn French in Montreal, including courses given by the universities' continuing education departments, private schools, and government-subsidized courses.

I hope this is helpful. If there's anything else you want to know about these subjects or other facts of life in Montreal, Quebec, or Canada, please ask.

[wheelingman]

Montreal is an awesome city. I guarantee you will love it.

[Caliguy2005]

I'm very excited to visit Montreal next year and i will definately get a passport...

I really appreciate all the information that you all have posted on here :-)

Merci :-)