in today's video i'm going to tell you about one of the major differences between french canada
and english canada and then i'm going to take you on a walk
down one of the most important streets in montreal it's going to be fun let's go
you guys like my new shoes i just bought them
if you tell me you don't like them your comment will be deleted and
you will be reported to youtube for hate speech
you can make fun of my face you can make fun of my video but don't you ever make fun of my new shoes
this is a nice street here isn't it they don't make them like that anymore but this
random side street is not the focus of today's video focus of today's video is right over here
this is the street i'm here to tell you about this is boulevard rene levesque i would bet that most
french canadians almost all of them in fact know the name rennie levesque whereas on the other hand
most english canadians don't i didn't know the name randy levesque before i moved to montreal
and yet it could be argued that levesque was one of the most important politicians in the history
of quebec and once i explain a bit who renee lobeck is it's going to hint at one of the major
differences between french canadians and english canadians but first let's take a little walk okay
wow look at this this is kind of weird to see a big gated up mansion
in downtown montreal i'm gonna check google maps and figure out what this is
google doesn't know it shows look it shows nothing
all right i'm gonna cross again to avoid some of that construction across the street
and then i'll tell you a bit more about randy levesque whoa
look at this almost got a layer of fresh concrete on my new shoes you're never safe in downtown
montreal i'm telling you anyway enough about the shoes we're talking about randy levick so
mr levesque was one of the premiers of quebec back in the early 1970s but even before that he was a
prominent voice in the quebec separatist movement in fact he's kind of remembered as being the
godfather of separatism or maybe the grandfather i don't know godfather grandfather he's one of
the fathers and because of that he remains a controversial figure in canadian politics
just as the issue of an independent quebec remains controversial in many ways so you can imagine how
for quebecois who are proud of their identity and and some of them want to have an independent state
someone like renee levesque would be seen as a pioneer and a hero for other parts
of canada he's seen as an inconvenient voice you know a troublemaker someone who
you know you kind of need to tolerate because this is a free country and you have your opinions but
i'm not really someone you want to bring too much attention to which is why i mean i went through
all my years of con canadian education and i don't know the name randy beck if i was ever
taught it i quickly forgot it and i wasn't the best student in high school so maybe that is true
but the point is i sure know who pierre elliot trudeau is you know uh justin trudeau's father
and him and levesque had a lot of spirited debates back in the day in fact rene levesque
i was doing a bit of research for this video i found this fascinating video called look at this
reni levick with students at a college in toronto and this is in march 1968 so over 50 years ago
i'll leave a link to this video it's fascinating and what's most fascinating about it to me is
the fact that you know he's debating for the separatist movement and the debates they're having
the issues they're talking about they're they're in some ways the exact conversation that quebecois
are having today could you perhaps clarify this position how can quebec survive economically
separate from the rest of canada i just wish you'd stop thinking that uh we're different and we're a
minority let's join together what i mean is that if you look at the world outside you find out that
you do not have basic issues you do not have your issues are not convincing may i just ask you where
your accent comes from just for curiosity comes from palestine palestine no i was just
i was which is a which is one of the most respectable sovereign states of the recent world
it's like 50 plus years have passed and still these issues are very much on the consciousness
of quebec and listen i'm not going to come out and say if i support levesque or if i don't or
something like that but i just think it's worth mentioning who he was and what role he played
for canadians just like if you went to cuba it's important to know who fidel castro is
to some people he's a hero to some people he is uh you know the opposite of what they want
in their country it doesn't matter where you personally stand it's important to
understand and acknowledge and so i feel like as english canadians we could do a bit better at
trying to understand the figures of the quebec past and actually teaching it because you know
like i said whether you agree with it or not this is your country this is your history this is
in many ways you're present because as i already explained you know these issues remain until today
and speaking about remain until today look at this
i guess the houses are gone it's only the facades of the houses with these condos on top
uh-oh i heard an english canadian talking about separatism they're coming to arrest me what do you
guys think of a site like that those old buildings under the giant new glass building it's i mean i
guess it's nice that they're preserving them but it's kind of sad to me you know it's kind of sad
i do video production also if ever you need like drone shots to add to
you're doing a vlogger i guess yeah we're on a youtube channel yeah so if ever you need
drone shots to add to like where you're shooting you know my name is mike trolls can't go wrong
mike drones look in the hurry hit me up in the area thanks mike yeah see you
listen i'm not telling you guys that i'm against development i don't want to sound like one
of those people who's like oh everything has to stay the way it is no i understand
in fact i i admire when a city changes and evolves in a good way it's just you don't lose too many of
those old buildings you know to me those are the soul of montreal they are something you don't find
in most parts of canada i mean you know as someone who uh grew up in winnipeg i had never seen
houses like that before i didn't know canada had buildings that looked like that i thought you
had to go to europe to see those but no they're here in montreal hopefully we hold on to them
a bit of a classy part of downtown actually i mean the vibe has changed since back where i started
yeah classy little area i gotta i gotta dress up next time i'm down here
what a cool dog anyway our walk continues and pretty soon we're gonna get to an older building
that i don't think is going anywhere anytime soon
no not the beer market i'm not talking about that i'm talking about this one can you see it
i think it's called the sun life building right past dorchester square maybe a block
from here is also the famous queen elizabeth hotel where uh john lennon back in the 60s john lennon
and his wife yoko ono did their famous like sleep in i think it was called sleep for peace
basically if you don't know they stayed in a bed for a long time uh they did whatever
whatever couples do when they're stuck in bed and they were trying to save the world bring peace um
yeah so that happened there's the beautiful sunlight building i was talking about
hopefully they do not do anything with it at least not in my lifetime because that is gorgeous
and behind those trees somewhere is the queen elizabeth
and as always there's construction i gotta i gotta find my way around this
where do i go where do i go
this is renee levesque at peel street
very beautiful part of the city i would say
if you're a tourist you owe it to yourself to visit this area
and maybe if you're lucky the construction will be done i doubt it
as evidenced by that guy attacking construction cones behind me
hey look invisible statue i'm not going to touch that one guys i'm doing too many controversial
topics in one video um but yeah let's just say canada is having a moment of reflection on its
past and different people have different views on that all i'm going to say is i believe that
you can have different views on these historical figures but you should learn who they are and
you should make your own opinions be a free thinking human being we need more of those these
days i mean the number of beautiful buildings i mean just standing here i mean this
this to me is one of the more impressive places to stand in the city
because of course you got the new architecture like all those buildings i just passed by
you got the beautiful old buildings that remind you of the past of the city
if you want to know about canadian politics i mean you know you'll see some missing statues
you'll see some political signs you'll see you know there's a lot of protests that come
down here i think the quebecois inherited that from their french
from france as much as quebecois are a distinct culture of course there are
some similarities with france and the love to protest is one of the similarities that i see
i didn't expect to see this but right across from the fairmont queen elizabeth
if you're lucky as i am right now you can see all the way down to mount royal
where those buildings that's actually mcgill university i believe
but we're not going there today only got one more thing to show you i think it's the perfect way to
end and the perfect way to uh summarize what life in montreal is really about these days
okay we're almost there at least i think we're almost there
this is a longer boulevard than i thought
yes here it is finally the entrance to chinatown and the reason i wanted to end the video here
not that montreal has a particularly large chinese population or anything like that
but just to point out that you know one of the biggest changes between 1968
you know when i showed you that black and white video and today one of the biggest differences
isn't the is the french and english divide it's the amount of immigration that we have in canada
this is no longer a country uh where people only speak english and french at home
if you think about the indigenous past which more and more canadians are doing recently
it really never was we just had this illusion back in the day that maybe it's only english and french
cultures that mattered but really for generations now we've had the indigenous populations
who often too often get forgotten by canadians we've had immigrants from asia from the americas
south america central america india africa of course other parts of europe i mean look
around montreal there's irish communities there's portuguese communities there's indian communities
greek arab muslim jewish name a group you'll you'll find a community in montreal and i think
that's an important way to end this video just to have that awareness that sometimes canadians
sometimes we have a close-minded idea of what it means to be a canadian or a quebecois for
that matter we think in terms of stereotypes and cliches but the reality the people you pass on
the street the stories you encounter are far more diverse in canada than most places in the world
and that's something that makes me proud to be a canadian i think it's one of the strongest points
of canada that we celebrate that diversity is it perfect no do we have issues which lead to us
tearing down statues renaming uh public uh streets and squares and sometimes there are protests
sometimes certain people get disrespected or don't get the acknowledgement they deserve that is true
some quebecois feel that their entire province has been dealt that way for a very long time but
i think canada is a place that is trying to get this messy game known as multiculturalism right
are we perfect no but we're trying to be better and maybe the street rene levesque
boulevard symbolizes how canada can have one foot in the future and one from the past
we can acknowledge and remember the cultures that began this great country
and that need to be remembered and preserved while also embracing the future and allowing
new cultures to be part of this great country there's there's space for both just like my foot
can always be the same even when the new pair of shoes changes this great country can uh that
that's that's a terrible metaphor okay i tried too much i was almost there i almost had it i almost
had it i almost ended this video but then i just i lost it at the end guys i lost it this video
is sponsored by converse shoes thank you for uh no just kidding this video is not sponsored by anyone
but this video is dedicated to you all the people at home who believe that diversity is a strength
who believe that people from different countries different backgrounds different languages
different cultures can come together and live in peace and can make a stronger community together
that's who i dedicate this video to i think these days we're hearing so much negativity in the news
we're hearing all these stories all these protests all these things that are trying to divide us
and make us forget that deep down we're all the same okay don't forget don't listen to all those
liars on tv who want to uh just convince you that we're all so different and we all need to
be fighting all the time it's nonsense i've traveled to 40 countries in the
world you know what i've learned deep down people are the same we got to remember that
hope you enjoyed this as always i'm dan from the new travel i'll see you next time
you