Montréal à la Glasgow
Glasgow’s gritty working-class attitude and can-do attitude are reflected in Montréal’s Scottish past and up-and-coming canal-side neighbourhoods. Indeed, with this Glasgow à la Montréal itinerary, you’ll be hearing bagpipes and speaking with a wee brogue in no time!
Montréal’s Scots history runs deep, with several important sites dotting the city landscape. Major players in the city’s past include businessman David Ogilvy (whose storefront Holt Renfrew Ogilvy remains Montréal’s deluxe shopping destination with tartan flourishes), the former president of the Montréal Harbour Commission responsible for transforming the city’s port John Young (commemorated with an epic fountain monument in Old Montréal) and James McGill (whose namesake McGill University is ranked as one of the world’s top universities). And paying silent observance over it all, Scotland’s poet laureate Robert Burns is commemorated by a heroic statue in Dorchester Square (a replica of an original in Ayr, Scotland).
The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul
Montréal Highland Games
The red brick former factories of the Quartiers du Canal district carry a similar feel to Glasgow’s working waterfront on the banks of the Clyde River, and the Fur Warehouse on the banks of the Lachine Canal National Historic Site constructed by Scottish merchant Alexander Gordon give a glimpse of Scots life here in the 1800s. The Neo-Gothic Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul has been hosting Scottish cultural events since 1803, acting as the Regimental Church of the Royal Highland Regiment of Canada. And for those looking to keep active, the expansive greens of the Douglas Hospital grounds in Verdun play host to the Montréal Highland Games every August, held in the city since 1855, while the annual Great Canadian Kilt Skate sees local Scots taking to the ice in their best tartans with Saltire flags aloft.
Once evening comes, Montréal’s eclectic indie music scene is every bit as world-renowned as Glasgow’s, with shop sound systems playing the latest favourites and venues filled every night of the week. Finally, a wee dram of the finest Scottish whisky makes for the perfect end to the evening, with many on offer at Pub L’île Noire. Listen closely and you might even hear bagpipes on the air!
Mark Hamilton
Mark Hamilton is the community director for QueerMTL, an internationally-touring musician with his projects Woodpigeon and Frontperson and a graduate studies student of history researching LGBTQ+ activism in the city. He’s lived in Montréal since 2015, during which time he’s most often spotted atop a BIXI bike usally running a few minutes late.