Montreal

Naturally, CIHO in Montreal was more big-city cool than at any of our other venues. We were right downtown, housed in Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS). The chairs occupied a “black box” space at the heart of the Centre, a setting that showcased their vibrant colours and heightened the drama of the stories that they held. And we were bilingual again, a circle back to our first 2023 exhibit in Winnipeg.

In addition to COHDS, we worked with the Montreal History Group / Le Groupe d’histoire de Montréal and solicited input from members of the UK-based Age, Care, and the Caregiving Crisis Group. Together, the team hosted a well-attended opening event / vernissage and a stimulating closing roundtable on the topic of Care in Crisis with international and local speakers.

The Story Space was set up in a bright and spacious room and enthusiastically staffed by a team of students and volunteers. But our 10th floor location proved a barrier to participation, so instead the volunteers tackled the essential task of correcting the stack of audio transcriptions that we had amassed from across the country. Wonderful.

More successful was Story Space work done in the wider Montreal region. Researcher Annick Desmarais recorded memories of the pandemic at a local retirement complex Résidence Lux and the community organization Le Chaînon, active for more than 80 years providing key supports for marginalized women in Montreal’s Francophone community. The rich stories that Desmarais gathered can be found through the Audio Archive portal at the bottom of the page. Historian Kathryn Harvey worked on the West Island to gather Francophone and Anglophone stories shared by family and care home workers. Clips from some of these interviews are showcased below and the full recordings are in the Audio Archive.

Concordia was the final CIHO exhibit, and we were delighted to discover the Centre for Creative Reuse which helped us find a new home for nearly every exhibit item. Very helpful.

Thank you/ Merci: Tiziri Abdeladim,Vitalyi Bulchev, Colin Coates, Aaron Derfel, Annick Desmarais, Beatrice Estok, Magda Fahrni, Jarred Hendrick, Penelope Higgens, Thomas Jourdan, Kathryn Harvey, Andrée Levesque, Barbara Lorenzkowski, Henry Maclaren, Lorraine McCrary, Mélissa-Anne Ménard, Sayendri Panchadhyayi, Camille Robert, Penny Vera Sanso, Marie-Claude Thifault, Arrien Weeks, Antea Zivanovic

Below, we present a selection of art and excerpts from our Montreal Story Spaces. Click the embedded links to access story selections or scroll down to the bottom of the page to access the complete Montreal Story Archive.

All English audios and non-accessible texts have been transcribed.

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Art Gallery

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Audio Clips

You know, my mother can’t go there.  

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

• FAMILY CAREGIVER AND ADVOCATE, MONTREAL   18 November 2023 – Story 1 

I saw the total fear that gripped people  

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

• FAMILY CAREGIVER AND ADVOCATE, MONTREAL   18 November 2023 – Story 1 

A really volatile environment 

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

• PRÉPOSÉ OR CARE WORKER/ ATTENDANT   23 December 2023 – Story 2

You saw it in their faces

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

• PRÉPOSÉ OR CARE WORKER/ ATTENDANT   23 December 2023 – Story 2

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Montreal Story Archive