Q: My husband and I are mixed couple. We are African American and Latino American. I have researched the city and found it to be a beautiful and wonderful place. I am concerned however about possible high amounts of racism there. I have heard that getting work there is hard also if you are an immigrant. Are Americans excepted? Can someone advise me of the racial climate affecting this wonderful city?
A: I'm not the best person to answer this question, since I am a typical caucasian hetero male in Quebec. However, what I can tell you is that I have friends of various ethnic origins (arabic, west indian, latino, indian, etc) and when hanging around with them I have not really seen any significant discrimination or racial issues around them. I have a filipino friend who is married to a jewish girl living in a house next to a black family that I frequent and they love their neighborhood. There will always be the few bigots in every city, but Montreal is known to be one of the most tolerant in North America. We are the town that helped Jackie Robinson become the first black baseball player in the major leagues. We have a gay pride parade every year and a large caribean festival that has never been marred by violence or any controversy. To give you an example of the differences between Montreal and a US city, when I was visiting Cleveland with my black friend a few years ago for a Browns game, we showed up just as a Klan rally was kicking off. That is something you would never see in Montreal because I doubt you could get more than twenty or so Montrealers to attend. About the only tension that seems to show up around here every few years is a language debate. Being in Quebec, you are expected to speak French and any immigrants will be required to send their children to French schools. The language issues can get pretty heated, but I have rarely seen it turn violent. Pretty much if you make the effort to learn the language up here, you will be accepted and be comfortable living here, even if after 5-10 years you will still be referred to as "les voisins americains" (the American neighbors). ADDENDUM: After posting my message, I see all these really negative responses to your question. I really don't think I've had my head in the sand for the last 38 years but you can believe who you want. What I can tell you is that immigrants everywhere (mainly muslims) are being affected by the "anti-terrorism" waves going through North America, with things like girls wearing hijabs not being allowed to compete in tournaments unless they remove their head covering. As for the question of employment, our company has hired just about every nationality under the sun. Our president is indian, our VP of finance is hispanic, and our VP of development is chinese. Getting the job up here is based on who you know (like everywhere else) and what your skills are. Most employers (at least officially) have equal opportunity policies and do not want to be known as discriminatory.