In Montreal, French Expats Find Language Doesn't Translate to Community

When Cecile Lazartigues-Chartier first visited Montreal, Quebec, it was not love at first sight. She and her husband, expecting their first child, were keen to leave Paris for somewhere “a little quieter,” so they spent three dark, cold weeks in Montreal. “It was not beautiful and it just seemed so American to me,” she says. Still, she was drawn to the city’s cultural mix, to the people from all over the world. She and her husband decided that they would try it for a year.

Twenty years later, Lazartigues-Chartier is something of an ambassador to people in that same situation. She now leads community groups with the aim of helping new French immigrants integrate in Montreal—a deceptively difficult task. Over the past several years, there’s been a significant increase in the number of French immigrants arriving to take advantage of the similar language, cheaper cost of living, and job opportunities. But while connections between France and its former colony have long been touted as lofty and enduring (sometimes even more so than the connection between Quebec and English-speaking Canada), the presence of these new immigrants has ruffled some feathers.