Tell the City of Montreal: Your art matters

The City of Montreal is putting forward their culture plan for the next 5 years (2025-2030). Please join us in letting them know that English artists, and the arts in general are an important part of the city, and must not be forgotten!

Dear members,

As some of you may have heard, the city of Montreal is putting forward a proposal for the way the resources for arts and culture will be directed for the next 5 years.

While some of the initiatives are to be applauded (greater cultural visibility, for instance), some areas are troubling for artists, and English speakers in particular.

In order to unite and tell the municipal government that, YES, the arts matter, but also that English language speakers, and the artists themselves cannot be forgotten in this grand plan, we ask that you submit, in video or in writing, your own statements.

The Deadline for submission is November 15th, 5PM. You may send in your comments and opinions either in written or video format.

Submit your written opinion by mail or in person at:

Service du greffe
Commission sur la culture, le patrimoine et les sports
275, rue Notre-Dame Est
Montréal, Québec
H2Y 1C6

By email (Word or PDF format): commissions@montreal.ca

Submit your videos here: commissions@montreal.ca

You may also see the city’s full plan here, (available in French only): Projet de Politique de développement culturel de Montréal 2025-2030

We suggest that you may choose one or many of the following subjects:

How the arts affect you
How the arts affect people you work with (especially if you are an organization)
How the arts benefit everyday people
The importance of explicitly including English speakers in city policy
The importance of funding to keep up with the rising cost of living

If you need help with ideas, we have prepared our own submission which you can see here.

We look forward to continuing to work with you to be a strong advocate for the English-language arts and culture community in Quebec.

ELAN

Land Acknowledgement

ELAN is an official minority language organization within a country that recognizes two languages as official. ELAN is located in Tiohtià:ke, the original name for Montreal in Kanien’kéha, the language of the Mohawk—also known as Mooniyang, which is the Anishinaabeg name given to the city by the Algonquin. While we are based in this city, our projects have also taken place in many regions across Quebec.

We acknowledge the colonial origin of English and French in Canada, and recognize that both languages benefit from official status throughout the land. The province that we know as Quebec is an amalgamation of the traditional territories of the Innu and Inuit nations, Algonquian nations, as well as the Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Kanien’kéha and Anishinaabemowin are but two of the original languages of this province; Atikamekw, Cree, Inuktitut, and Innu-aimun are also among the many Indigenous languages spoken across Quebec as majority languages, all well before French and English.

ELAN acknowledges the important work being done by First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples to revive the traditional languages of these territories, and their advocacy for the official status of Indigenous languages.