Montreal Bike Festival Heralds Release From Grip Of COVID

If the 21-story Leonard Cohen mural that commands Montreal’s skyline could talk, it might tell you what this city’s crackling cultural life was like when the pandemic hit and everyone hunkered down. To borrow from his lyrics, it was a cold and a broken hallelujah.

The party’s back on.
The first weekend in June, Montrealers will line sidewalks and porches, toot horns and shout “bonne journee” or just plain “go!” as swarms of cyclists wend their way through the iconic urban spaces of this bicycle-mad city.

The Go Bike Montreal Festival is traditionally and once more the kickoff to a spring and summer season of music, outdoor pursuits, art extravaganzas and other joie de vivre exuberance.
This is no race of hotshots. Rather, the crowds turn out to cheer on neighbors and strangers, some 20,000 of them in each of two main rides, during a week-long festival that celebrates Montreal’s status as one of North America’s best bicycling cities.

This, in a province with a vast cycling network — Route Verte — that National Geographic rated first among the world’s top 10 cycling destinations.

Velo Quebec, the cycling organization that manages the network and puts on the festival, considers this year’s version to be the first full-blown one since COVID-19 at first crushed, then curtailed, the annual event and other large gatherings.

“We’re back to historical numbers,” said Jean-François Rheault, Velo Quebec’s CEO. “We’re back in celebration mode. Now the celebration is almost everywhere in the city.”

The festival opens May 28 with the Metropolitan Challenge, covering routes as long as 145 kilometers (90 miles) in the nearby Monteregie countryside.

The classic events with closed-off downtown streets are the following weekend. On June 2, the hordes head out at sunset on Tour la Nuit, many in oddball costumes with bikes bedecked in carnivalesque lights. On June 4 comes the longer Tour de l’ile de Montreal, covering 45 km, or 28 miles.

Both urban rides begin and end at Parc Maisonneuve, site of Olympic Stadium, the Biodome and the Montreal Botanical Gardens. Other landmarks are en route or close by.

Rheault said the pandemic spurred cities including Montreal to accelerate improvements to bikeways. While bicycle commuting shrank in the city’s protracted and strictly enforced lockdown, plenty more people took up cycling as a way to avoid going stir crazy. “Many who started biking realized they could safely and efficiently get around,” he said, and they’ve stuck with it.

In the 2019 Tour de l’Île a street corner in a forlorn warehouse district rang out with bracing songs in French from a Black choir as cyclists splashed through sheets of driving rain. Surprises like that are around one corner after another in the festival rides.

Quebec’s dedication to bicycle commuting and touring development is well known in the cycling and urban-policy worlds, with the more than 5,000-km (3,000-mile) Route Verte as the backbone. Over a quarter century, bikeways — bicycle paths, multipurpose trails, protected bike lanes and safe shoulders — have grown five-fold.

Velo Quebec counts 10,600 km or nearly 6,600 miles of bikeways in the province. For Montreal alone, its studies find that 2 in 3 adults used a bike for utility purposes — work commutes, shopping, errands — in 2020, up from 42% five years earlier.

The Colorado-based advocacy and research group PeopleforBikes, which produces worldwide ratings on urban biking, ranks Montreal No. 1 among large cities in North America for bike-friendly attributes.

Similarly, an MIT book on global cycling trends by urban planning researchers John Pucher of Rutgers University and Ralph Buehler of Virginia Tech named Montreal a world leader in establishing a safe network for bike commuting and recreation.

Pucher told the AP the city was “way ahead of the curve” in producing “the most comfortable, the least stressful bicycling infrastructure.”

Even before COVID got even more people on bikes, Montreal experienced a nearly two-thirds drop in the rate of serious cycling injuries since 2000 as the city’s bike network more than doubled, Buehler and Pucher found.

Cycling in the U.S. and Canada has been shaped by three waves, said Rheault, of Velo Quebec.

First came initial bike trails in the 1970s, many in existing parks. Then a surge in bike paths and the advent of urban bike-share from 2005 to 2010. The COVID era brought on the third wave as e-bike sales have surged and the next generation of bike lanes, wider and better protected than before, has taken shape.

By CALVIN WOODWARD

Canada Unveils New Passport Design With State-Of-The-Art Security Features

The Canadian passport is one of the most powerful and respected travel documents in the world. For some, it is used to reconnect with loved ones, to explore, and have an adventure. For others, it marks the final step in their immigration journey, becoming Canadian citizens and joining a diverse and inclusive society that values democracy, freedom, and human rights.

The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and the Honourable Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, are proud today to unveil the new Canadian passport. The new passport has been redesigned from cover to cover with state-of-the-art security features and new artwork, maintaining its status as one of the most secure and universally accepted travel documents in the world for all Canadians.

The new passport includes state-of-the-art security features designed to keep Canadians' identities safe, such as a polycarbonate data page—a technology similar to Canada's driver's licences. Passport holders' personal information will now be laser engraved instead of being printed with ink, making the data page more durable and resistant to tampering and counterfeiting. Other features include a Kinegram over the main photo, a custom see-through window with a secondary image of the passport holder, a variable laser image, and a temperature sensitive ink feature.

The new passport celebrates Canada's heritage and identity with iconic images of Canada's natural beauty throughout the four seasons. It also includes a new cover design with an outline of a maple leaf—the first significant change in decades. The new passport will start rolling out in later this summer. Until then, the current passport remains secure and reliable, so Canadians with valid passports will only need to renew them when they are getting close to their normal renewal date. More details regarding the roll-out will be provided at a later date.

The Government of Canada has also been working to offer more online service options for Canadians. Starting later this fall, Canadians will be able to renew their passport, pay their fees, and upload their photograph securely and conveniently online.

Quick facts:

The Government of Canada awarded a 14-year contract in 2019 to the Canadian Bank Note Company to design, develop, and deploy the next generation of Canadian passports and travel documents. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has worked with the Canadian Bank Note Company for the better part of the last century.

The Passport Index ranks the Canadian passport fourth globally, offering holders visa-free access or visa on arrival to over 170 countries (as of April 2023).

The current version of the passport was released in 2013.

With the new polycarbonate data page, we have imbedded the electronic passport chip in a transparent window on page one to better detect tampering attempts.

Canada is among the first in the Commonwealth to introduce a travel document series with reference to His Majesty King Charles III.

The new passport contains the former Coat of Arms. The design and manufacturing of the new passport is a multi-year process that began well before the new Coat of Arms was approved by His Majesty King Charles III in April 2023.

On March 21, 2023, the new online Passport Application Status Checker was launched, https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2023/03/service-canada-works-to-improve-client-experience-for-passport-applicants.html, allowing Canadians to check the status of their passport application online.

SOURCE Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Montréal’s 375th Anniversary Is Off To A Flying Start!

Montréal’s 375th anniversary: Let’s celebrate our “Nordicity” and play outdoors at Les Hivernales

The schedule of Les Hivernales, the first major participative event of Montréal’s 375th anniversary celebrations, was announced today.

As the event scheduled leading the official celebrations, Les Hivernales invites everyone who loves our city to come and get active, join the fun outdoors, and party on. From January to mid-March, there are a dozen original, varied, and vibrant activities on tap in Parc Jean-Drapeau, the Quartier des spectacles, and Old Montréal.

Here’s what they’re saying already!

“It all starts in 2017 by going outdoors to play!” says Gilbert Rozon, Commissioner for the Celebration of Montréal’s 375th Anniversary. “With elite sports, amazing shows, zany fun events, and great opportunities for the public to participate, there’s going to be something for everyone.”

“Montréal is a city that’s alive and hopping all four seasons of the year. The program for Les Hivernales is a loud and clear invitation to people all over Montréal, and visitors to our great city, to come join us, get warm out in the cold, and discover all sorts of fabulous new activities,” said Montréal Mayor Denis Coderre.

“As an illustration of the creativity that’s a hallmark of our city, the activities for Les Hivernales mirror the talent, imagination, and daring of our artists, entrepreneurs, and sponsors. The Québec government is proud to be a part of these celebrations that will make 2017 a year to remember for Montréal and for all Québec,” said Municipal Affairs, Land Occupancy, and Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux, who is also Minister Responsible for the Montréal region.

“These celebrations for Montréal’s 375th anniversary reflect the lively character of Montréalers, people who get out and do things and enjoy the four seasons for all they’re worth, as families, or with friends, downtown and in our city streets and neighbourhoods. For Québecers and tourists alike, this will be one more great reason to visit Montréal in 2017, to come along and celebrate, enjoy themselves, and discover our beautiful city,” said David Birnbaum, MNA (D’Arcy-McGee).

Barbegazi // January 6–8th and 13–15th, 2017

Pit your skills against Barbegazi, the wild and crazy obstacle course on the Îlot Clark in the heart of downtown Montreal.

BARBEGAZI – frozen beard – is a nod to Quebecers’ love of outdoor winter fun! It’s all happening at Hivernales. Get pumped for some high-energy thrills on an obstacle course that winds through an urban forest and across a snow-topped replica of the Jacques Cartier Bridge. It won’t cost you a cent, but could earn you big bucks! Ten participants who complete the course in the fastest time will share a prize of $5000!

Igloofest: “Nordik” Village, Slide, and Games // Weekends from January 12th to February 19th, 2017

For Hivernales, IGLOOFEST has added more days, more fun, and more family activities.

For 10 years, IGLOOFEST has brought together thousands of snow-suited electronic music fans to dance under the open sky in Montreal’s Old Port. For the 375th Hivernales celebrations, IGLOOFEST will be in town for six weeks. That gives you two extra weekends of wild, woolly competition and Off-Igloofest evenings.

With IGLOOFEST, you’ve going to love winter in Montreal!

Fête des neiges de Montréal // Weekends from January 14th to February 5th

Come out to play and discover great new family activities at Parc Jean-Drapeau during the Montreal 375th anniversary celebrations.
It’s a fab line-up for the young and young-at-heart at the 2017 Montreal Fête des Neiges! We’ve got sleds and we’ve got tubes so you can enjoy some super slippery fun on snow or ice!

And that’s not all! For Montreal’s 375th anniversary, Parc Jean-Drapeau reinvented the Montreal Fête des Neiges with more than 20 activities designed to please every taste. We’ve got slides of all shapes and sizes, a new ice-sculpted Pirate ship, lively animation, good old-fashioned snow tubing, the Tyrolienne, the Ferris Wheel, dog sled rides, skating, and live shows for the whole family.

Descente Saint-Denis – Soap race //January 20-21st, 2017

A fun-filled soapbox race for the sheer pleasure of bombing down Saint-Denis Street in the heart of winter.

For one amazing weekend during Montréal’s 375th Hivernales, some 60 homemade soap-box cars will barrel down Rue Saint-Denis along a 280-metre obstacle course. What do you need to enter? Skill, teamwork, and a great sense of humour! The fun, friendly competition is open to anyone eager to participate in a fantastic event, and provide thrills to an enthusiastic crowd. So get ready to race or cheer on the racers.

Classique Montréalaise – Pond hockey Tournament // January 28–29th, 2017 (Rain date: February 4–5th)

Montréal’s biggest outdoor hockey tournament bring us together in our love of the sport!

During the 375th Hivernales, more than 500 players will don their borough’s jersey and hit the ice on a dozen rinks on the Olympic Basin. Calling on all hockey players, fans, and fun-lovers. You’re invited to the Hivernales du 375th Classique Montréalaise, a magnificent celebration of our national sport at Parc Jean-Drapeau! There’s something for everyone at this fabulous line-up of hockey, performances, and animated family fun.

Grande traversée du Saint-Laurent // Saturday, January 28th, 2017

An invitation to cross-country ski and snowshoe in Montréal during the last stop of the Grande Traversée du Saint-Laurent.

After an 8-day sports vacation that covers the Gaspésie, Côte-Nord, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Québec City, the Grande traversée du Saint-Laurent will stop at Montréal to join in the festive ambiance of 375th Les Hivernales. During the last stop on this sports, cultural and gourmet odyssey, on January 28th, you are invited to come ski and snowshoe on the trails designed specifically for the occasion and enjoy Montréal from another viewpoint: a pristine snowy landscape.

Snow Moon by bike // Saturday, February 11th, 2017

A magical winter moonlit bike ride through the streets of Montreal!

What could be more magical than cycling through the heart of a moonlit city? As part of the Montreal 375th Anniversary Hivernales celebrations, cycling and winter enthusiasts are invited to take part in a luminescent parade of bikes along a 3.75-km route. Seasoned cyclists can up the ante and add a 15-km jaunt to the Olympic stadium to the excursion. Later, all participants will meet up in the enchanting Old port.

Montréal Ice Canoe Challenge // February 11–12th, 2017

Enjoy a ringside seat of extreme sport action at the Ice Canoe Challenge

It’s two exhilarating days of heart-pumping competition as top-level athletes race their canoes across more than 10 metres of the glacial St. Lawrence River. Come out and cheer on Captain Mylène Paquette and her VIVE MONTREAL 375 crew, or one of the dozens of other teams, for a fun-filled skill testing day on Saturday or the spectacular race on Sunday. Don’t miss this unique winter experience!

Hypothermic Half Marathon // Sunday, February 12th, 2017

Runners young and old alike are invited to come swell the ranks of the Montreal Hypothermic Half Marathon…bigger and better than ever this year, with 2 new courses.

This half marathon, already a popular event among elite runners, as well as folks who simply want to try a winter challenge, is making room for a bigger family during Les Hivernales on Montréal’s 375th anniversary. Besides running the 21.1 kilometre measured course, participants who can now run a 10.55 km course or a Half Marathon relay for 2 runners. The 2-circuit race follows a course through the thrilling setting of Île Sainte-Hélène and Île Notre-Dame, starting from Parc Jean-Drapeau in the middle of the St. Lawrence.

Polar Hero Race // Saturday, February 18th, 2017

Get ready, get set, or get a team together for a spectacular, extreme winter sport experience

Come alone, with friends, or sign up the whole family for an activity that’s unique in Canada – the POLAR HERO RACE. It’s all happening at the Hivernales Montreal 375th celebrations. Kids, adults, and seasoned athletes should start warming up for this unique, thrilling and exciting 5-km, 25-obstacle course.

Curling en lumière // February 23rd to March 11th, 2017

Discover the magic of Curling en lumière – a brand new activity that’s free for the whole family at the 375th Hivernales
MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE sheds new light on curling, by taking the time-honoured game outdoors and to dazzling new heights. For a truly unique interactive experience, try your hand tossing the rocks against the brilliant backdrop of a light and sound performance. Animators will be on hand to provide play-by-play commentary, get everyone involved, and tally up team points. There will also be a designated area for those who prefer to stand back and enjoy the scene.

Travelers Can Now Fly Direct (Non-Stop) Between Beijing & Montréal

Earlier this year, Air Canada and Air China made a major announcement that brought Montréal closer to Asia: a direct flight between Montréal and Beijing. Although currently operated by Air China, tickets will also be offered through Air Canada’s booking portal as the first step of a broader partnership. The inaugural flight takes to the skies on September 29 (2015).

SISTER PACT

The new route goes beyond simply providing more options for travelers. The local airport authority (formally known as Aéroports de Montréal) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Beijing Capital International Airport Co. Ltd. (BCIA) to establish of a “sister airport” partnership. With this agreement, the two airport authorities will strengthen co-operation and share best practices. Sounds like a win-win!

BEIJING’LE BELLE ROCK!

This new Montréal-Beijing route is great for a variety of factors. Here are five of our tops reasons why the route is a game changer.

Chinese tourist spending is beyond big. According to a report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 174 million Chinese tourists will spend a record $264 billion by 2019. More than ever, Montréal will be recognized as a destination for accessible and direct tourism. That means huge economic potential for the city.

More Montréal meetings. A direct flight from China to Montréal will inevitably increase the likelihood of Chinese companies selecting our city as a strategic meeting destination. Montréal makes an ideal middle ground (geographically and politically) for international stakeholders from Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Opportunities for Montréal startups. Direct flights mean easier access, and easier access means more business opportunities. Companies in the city will be able to use the connection with Beijing as a gateway for all their activities in Asia. We’re curious to see how the new route will impact our already-booming startup scene — stay tuned!

Family ties. With over 100,000 Chinese Canadians living in the province of Québec, the direct route makes it easier than ever to connect with family and friends in China.

Weekends in Beijing. As of 2013, tourists from 45 countries (including Canada) are permitted a 72-hour visa-free stay in Beijing. A direct flight means Montréalers travelling for either business or leisure can literally take a three-day weekend in Beijing without the hassle of time-crunching layovers. That means less time in transit and more time on the ground for local experiences.