Simon Vickers A Thesis in The Department of History Presen

146 Pages·2013·2.6 MB·English

Making Co-opville:
Layers of Activism in Point St-Charles (1983-1992)

Simon Vickers

A Thesis
in
The Department
of
History

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Master of Arts (History) at
Concordia University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

July 2013

© Simon Vickers, 2013
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
School of Graduate Studies

This is to certify that the thesis prepared
By: Simon Vickers
Entitled: Making Co-opville: Layers of Activism in Point St-Charles (1983-1992)
and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Master of Arts (History)
complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with
respect to originality and quality.

Signed by the final Examining Committee:
Dr. Ted McCormick ___________________________Chair
Dr. Ted Rutland ___________________________ Examiner
Dr. Peter Gossage __________________________ Examiner
Dr. Steven High ___________________________ Supervisor

Approved by ___________________________________________________
Chair of Department of Graduate Program Director

____________2013 ________________________________
Dean of Faculty
Abstract

Making Co-opville:
Layers of Activism in Point St-Charles (1983-1992)

Simon Vickers

To date, most writing on co-operative housing has begun from the assumption
that co-operatives are objectively good. These celebratory narratives have emphasized
the affordability and sense of community that they associate with co-op housing. What is
missing from these narratives, however, is the acknowledgement that through their
process of selecting neighbours housing co-ops are, by necessity, exclusive.

This thesis will take a more critical approach to co-operative housing by stepping
outside of individual co-ops, and looking at the way they were perceived through the
frame of a neighbourhood. In 1983, local activists in the Montreal neighbourhood of
Point St-Charles launched PROJET St-Charles. Promoted as an alternative to the
revitalization strategies of a city government that actively promoted gentrification,
PROJET supporters sought to build 500 hundred non-market co-ops over the next three
years.

Over the next decade, debates over how to fund, build and fill these co-ops
revealed much about the multiple undercurrents of culture and activism in Point St-
Charles. Although these “layers” of social relations could normally co-exist, the process
of choosing members for co-operative housing required that the Comité become
selective. Through their governance of a plan to build and fill co-ops for and by the
neighbourhood, the Comité St-Charles literally chose who would represent Point St-
Charles in the coming years.

iii
Dedications

This thesis is dedicated to my father and mother for too many reasons to count.

iv
Table of Contents

List of Figures and Illustrations: vi
List of Maps: vii
List of Acronyms: viii
Introduction: 1
Chapter 1: 32
Chapter 2: 67
Conclusion: 111
Bibliography: 127

v
List of Figures and Illustrations

Figure 2.1: Chart of Logipop Subsidies: 46
Figure 2.2: Comic Book Illustration: 52
Figure 3.1: PROJET St-Charles Poster: 73
Figure 3.2: Distribution of Survey Responses: 98

vi
List of Maps
Map 1.1: Southwest Burrough and Point St-Charles on Island of Montreal: 3

Map 1.2: Point St-Charles with Street Names and Borders: 4
Map 2.1: PIQA Intervention Sites : 57
Map 3.1: Location of Alexandra Area Social Housing: 99
Map 4.1: Condo Assault on Point St-Charles, 2013: 113
Map 4.2: Rate of Property Value Increase in Point St-Charles: 114
Map 4.3: Location of all social housing in Point St-Charles: 116

vii
List of Acronyms in Order of Appearance

CCF : Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
RIL : Regroupement information logement de Pointe-Saint-Charles
FRAP : Front d’action politique
MCM : Montreal Citizens Movement
CHF : Co-operative Housing Federation
NHA : National Housing Act
SHQ : Société habitation de Québec
PQ : Parti Québécois
GRT : Groupes de ressources techniques
HLM : Habitation à loyer modique (Public Housing)
SARP : Service d’aide à rénovation de Pointe-Saint-Charles
SOCAM : Société d’amélioration de Pointe-Saint-Charles
PIQA : Programme d’intervention dans les quartiers anciens
SODIM : Société de dévéloppement industriel de Montréal
FRAPRU : Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain
NDP : New Democratic Party

viii
Introduction

PAQUETTE: Oui, midnight move, for sure. Hey, just like the
Arsenaults en bas. Fuck the landlords! It’s the best way.
JOHNNY: Yeah…. Whew, hot. Going anywhere this summer?
PAQUETTE: Moi? Balconville
JOHNNY: Yeah. Miami Beach1

—From David Fennario’s Balconville, 1979

Montreal playwright David Fennario introduced his new play, Balconville, at the
Centaur Theatre in the Old Montreal district in 1979. Set in the real life neighbourhood
of Point St-Charles, situated only a couple of miles away, Balconville told a story that
few theatre goers could relate to. Unlike those with the disposable income to attend a
show at the expensive Centaur Theatre, the residents of Balconville spent their free time
watching the world from their balconies. Faced with a deteriorating building, the threat
of gentrification, and widespread unemployment, the adult characters reminisced about a
time in which things were better, politicians worked harder, and children were more
responsible. The fact that Fennario’s characters lived in a “ville” within the borders of
the city of Montreal implied an isolated existence. The characters mentioned other places
in Montreal such as Westmount, Verdun and Park Extension, but referred to them in
sharp contrast to their own neighbourhood.2
For much of its history, Point St-Charles was linked to other neighbourhoods in
the south-west of Montreal through its proximity to the heavily industrialized Lachine
Canal. Completed in the mid nineteenth century, the canal was built so that ships could

1 David Fennario, Balconville: A Play (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1980) 28.
2 Ibid, whole book.
1
bypass a set of rapids on the St-Lawrence River.3 The building of the Grand Trunk
Railway terminus in Point St-Charles in 1859 furthered the Canal’s importance as a
nexus of trade. Large factories settled along the Canal to take advantage of the shipping
bottleneck, making the Canal one of the most important (if not the most important)
manufacturing hubs in Canada.4 Along with the present day neighbourhoods of
Griffintown, Little Burgundy, St-Henri and Côte Saint Paul, the residential areas of Point
St-Charles expanded in the shadows of some of the biggest factories in Canada.
Collectively labelled “the city below the hill” by nineteenth century sociologist Herbert
Ames, the residential neighbourhoods of the Southwest were defined by a high
concentration of poor industrial workers and set in contrast to the more affluent part of
the city above the hill.5 Geographer Robert Lewis supports Ames’ claim, providing
evidence that many residents experienced the Southwest as a city of its own. In
Manufacturing Montreal, he argues that several pockets around the city, including the
Southwest, qualified as early examples of industrial suburbs. Linked by their proximity
and industrial culture, Lewis argues that neighbourhoods in the Southwest were more
connected to each other than to downtown Montreal.6
The industries that provided jobs for the residents of the Southwest, however, fell
into steep decline following the end of World War Two. Highlighted by the opening of

3 The canal would go through many changes since its opening. For an interesting look at how these
changes have been reflected and contributed to urban processes see: Desmond Bliek and Pierre Gauthier,
"Understanding the Built Form of Industrialization along the Lachine Canal in Montreal," Urban History
Review 35, no. 1 (Fall 2006)
4 Robert D. Lewis, Manufacturing Montreal: The Making of an Industrial Landscape, 1850 to 1930
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000), 100-128.
5 Ames actually did not include all of the present day Southwest Burrough or Point St-Charles in his city
below the hill: “Beyond Centre Street lies the special district of Point St-Charles, which is almost an
independent suburb by itself, being sustained by employment in the offices and workshops of the
G.T.R.(Grand Trunk Railway): Herbert Brown Ames, The City below the Hill; a Sociological Study of a
Portion of the City of Montreal, Canada. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972), 8.
6 Robert D. Lewis, Manufacturing Montreal, 221-255.
2