Policy Update: Montreal, Cultural Metropolis 2017-2022

The City of Montreal recently concluded consultations for its Cultural Development Project 2017-2022. Thanks to your input, ELAN had a lot to say about the policy in our own brief, which we presented to the Commission responsible for the policy at City Hall on April 6.

Many of ELAN’s recommendations, especially for increased encounters between artists from different linguistic groups and for clearer commitments to diversity and equity, were echoed by other groups who participated.

We were pleased to see that the Commission has adopted several promising recommendations along these lines, including:

An increased focus on equity, inclusion, and diversity;
Measures to ensure representation and document systemic barriers;
Encouraging encounters between French- and English-speaking artists and artists of other linguistic backgrounds;
Integrating universal accessibility into the planning of cultural activities;
Promoting use of the City’s cultural infrastructure among English-speaking and Allophone artistic communities.

What’s next? A Rendez-vous in 2018 will result in an action plan to implement the policy. We will share news as soon as it’s announced.

Read the Commission’s full report here (FR) and consult the list of recommendations here (FR).

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.