Before long, saturated by daily life, incessant traffic, the acceleration of our lives and the brightness of street lights at night, we perceive the city only by its surface, its shell, its appearance. Before long, we confound the city with its branding, the process whereby cities become consumer products – places with things to do/see/buy – but also places where sensitive, breathable lives free of fixed goals have disappeared.

In order to break free from viewing the city as a simple object, background or springboard, to experience the city as a vessel where one can wander freely and where relationships flourish and senses awaken, we must return the city to its very essence, its fundamental necessity: connection. Binding, connecting: these two verbs (in Latin) are the root of the word “religion”. Those who are in search of a spiritual path are aware of this. They experience a unique aspect of “societal coexistence” that others avoid since religion, notably in Quebec, has been used to both alienate lives and dictate destinies for so long.

In the Montreal that was once the City of a Thousand Steeples and that even today is the cradle of more than a thousand places of worship, have descendants of religious societies historically oppressed by the Church become fervent atheists and flamboyant agnostics? Sociologist Deirdre Meintel informs us that this is not the case, not even slightly. On the contrary, we are more religious in Montreal than anywhere else in Canada. Catholics experiment with various religious cults, transitioning from one to the next while continuing to attend Mass on occasion. “Montrealers are searching for the invisible realm behind all things,” Deirdre explains. She notes that Islamophobia is opposed by numerous ecumenical initiatives. She sees Montreal as brimming with spirituality, desire for eternity, imperceptible communions and inter-religious patchworks as improbable as they are amusing.

WE WANT

We want to have the freedom to choose as regards respect for all people.

We do not want any individual to be judged in light of his or her faith or convictions in this global city.

We want our city to become nothing less than a silky colourful carpet filled with joyful spiritual chaos, a bazaar of various faiths that respect each other.

We believe that uniformity is boring, that certainty is austere and that isolation is monotonous.

Floating above the asphalt, we want our dreams of the absolute, our desire for escape, our tentative steps toward the unseen, to be rendered possible.

We want the city to provide us with the energy to seek and to find, deep within ourselves, that which drives us.

We are Montreal.
We want to bring forth the future, today.