Google Doc | Facebook post | Author: Mati Roy | Created: 2018-07-10 | Published: 2019-04-16 | Updated: 2019-12-05

Tips for people in Montreal

Places to stay

• My collective: https://macroscope.house/
• Other people in the rationalist community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MontrealRationalistSharehouses/
• Other collectives in Montreal: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CollectifsDeMontreal/
• Other: AirBnB, Kijiji, Craiglist
• Price history of apartments: https://monloyer.quebec/

Local groups

Here’s a list of local groups I participate to: https://matiroy.com/communities.html. If you’re interested in giving a presentation to one of them please let me know. Let me know if you want to be added to the Facebook Messenger conversation “Rationalists in Montreal”.

Other groups: There’s also many other events on Meetup and Facebook.

Transport

Metro closes during the night.

There are buses 24 hours a day.

There are Ubers, taxis, Teos.

There are public bikes, called Bixis.

Airport connection

For the airport, you can take the 747 24h / day. You need to buy a day pass to use it (they are 10 CAD, and can be used the whole day for the bus and subway).

During the day, it’s faster to catch it at Lionel-Groulx, and during the night, given that the subway is closed, it’s easier to catch it near the UQAM (reverse if you’re arriving from the airport). To get to the Lionel-Groulx subway station, take the metro from the Sherbrook subway station (vice-versa if you’re arriving from the Macroscope). The bus stops near UQAM is a 18 minutes walk from the Macroscope (it’s also possible to take the bus number 30), and the Sherbrooke subway station is a 10 minutes walk from the Macroscope.

When exiting the airport, the bus in on your right, and the machine for tickets is inside just before the last door.

You can google “Montreal taxi” and put phone numbers in your phone in case you can’t catch the bus, or use the airport WI-FI to get a Uber.

Things I like to do

Let me know if you would like suggestions for things to do in Quebec outside of Montreal.

You might want to check if there are festivals or special events during your stay as those happen frequently. Example:

• Francofolies (July 11 to July 15)

I also really enjoy the intentional communities around Montreal, check out events on this group and page, as well as St Dom Jamhouse, Collectif Masson, and Studio 13.

Here are other things you can do. I would recommend prioritizing things you can’t do in other city, like walking around Montreal :)

Things I liked to do in Montreal, and might want to do again:

• Go see the sunrise on Mont Royal (or just go on Mont Royal) (you can walk there from the Macroscope)
• Biking on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (check if it’s open first), and surrounding areas, such as the Biosphere and Habitat 67
• Check out huge painting on some buildings
• Sports de Combats (ie. archery range, axe/knife throwing, combat archery, NERF battle, rage cage)
• Paintball and more

Things I liked to do (in order):

• Walk around the Old Montreal
• Walk at Place des Arts
• Walk around the stadium (you can also go up the stadium if you want; and there a botanical garden nearby)
• Montreal Science Centre
• Amaze (there’s also Impasse and Ezkapaz)

Things I’ve never done, but would like to:

• Visit the Saint-Léonard cave
• Biggest Ferris wheel in Canada
• Rage Montreal (ie. axe throwing)
• Canadian Centre for Architecture (??)
• Decalade (seems dangerous; ex)

Other:

• Mont VR
• Quartier des Spectacles Montréal

Training

Gym

• Econofitness (I’m a member)
• Paragym

Pool

(source: Google Doc — Swimming Montréal)

2019 Jan 3 to June 21

Badminton court

Bouldering

• Shakti

Food

Let me know if you want the Vegan or Freegan Montreal map.

Online groceries

• IGA and Metro offer online groceries (IGA charges 4$ handling fees; Metro I don’t know). I note the links and name of what I buy on a Google Sheet. If you do that, you can use Open Multiple URLs to open all links at once for extra efficiency.

Groceries near the Macroscope:

• Marché Richelieu (5 minutes)
• Rachelle-Béry (more healthy / vegan options; 4 minutes)
• Fruiterie Plateau (5 minutes)
• Herbivores (completely vegan; 6 minutes)
• Segal’s Market (very cheap, hippy-like; various vegan options)

Restaurants:

• La Banquise: they serve poutine 24h a day, and have vegan options

Other useful locations

Cheap meals

• Comite Social Centre-Sud, 1710 Rue Beaudry (2-3$)
• Resto Plateau, 4450 Rue St-Hubert #232 (4$)

Coworking / board games

• Anti Café
• Le Colonel Moutarde

Bars / clubs

• L’Escalier (the entrance is really not obvious; there’s just a door facing the street, then stairs, and the bar is upstairs)

Giving away objects

• https://goo.gl/maps/V6eFRnTmwdF2
• https://goo.gl/maps/MTkgDDgx5gR2

Print

• Papeterie & Photocopie Zoubris Inc: Mile End, on Parc, can print for .05CAD a page; you can email your PDFs and name at copiezoubris@hotmail.com and then show up later and pay there
• Copie2000

Recycling

• Various locations

Health

Radon

-"radon is the number one cause of lung cancer in non-smokers"

-"radon gas can be found in almost all homes in Canada"

-"There are two options for testing a house for radon"

See: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/radon.html

Water quality

Update: I haven’t looked much into it yet, but I’ve heard there was a recent study show lead in Montreal was a worse problem than we thought.

There might be too much lead in your tap water.¹

This is caused by lead pipes in some section of the city. Information on which sectors are affected / at risk is also available in the document.

I haven’t research this a lot. But at my place, we’re therefore going to buy the Brita UltraMax Water Filter Dispenser with 1 Long Last Filter, Black, 18 Cup which claims to filter 99% of lead (among other things). (There are also some that can be attached directly to the sink, like the Brita Basic On Tap Faucet Water Filter System, although this one doesn’t say what fraction of lead it filters out. Not all filters are equal.)

Montreal also regularly emits boil-water advisory. Be noticed when it happens by subscribing to the Notices and Alerts.

“Afin de tenir compte également de l’exposition au plomb à l’école, la DRSP a effectué, en juin 2017, un échantillonnage de l’eau d’une fontaine dédiée aux enfants des classes du préscolaire dans 51 écoles de l’île de Montréal. Les concentrations de plomb ainsi mesurées ne sont pas très élevées et diminuent beaucoup après 1 minute d’écoulement. Le tiers des échantillons d’eau au premier jet excédent toutefois la valeur de 5 µg/L proposée par Santé Canada.” (https://santemontreal.qc.ca/fileadmin/fichiers/professionnels/DRSP/sujets-a-z/eau_potable/Plomb-eau_potable_ecoles_RAP_092017.pdf)

STI tests

You can ask your family doctor.

Prelib

https://prelib.ca/fr/comment-ca-marche

Near Berri-UQAM

Convenient private clinic. Online booking and questionnaire. Clinic visit lasts about 20 minutes. Results are received by email in about a week. Cost about 60$ total.

Infectious disease clinic

Walk-in clinic at the JGH

Time: 8:30 to 13:00 every weekday; lineup starts at 7:30 (usually full after 10:00)

Covered by Medicare. You can get results within 2-3 days. They test for syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV and hepatitis.

Sidep

https://santemontreal.qc.ca/sidep/

For males having had sexual relationships with other males.

L’actuel

https://cliniquelactuel.com/

Médecins du Monde (camion de)

https://www.medecinsdumonde.ca/fr/action-mdm/clinique-mobile/

Part of their target audience seems to be sex workers without RAMQ insurance, and I presume they don't check for Canadian residency. It's free.

Stella

Link: http://www.chezstella.org

Email address: info@chezstella.org

Phone number: 514-285-1599 (administration)

2nd phone number: 514-285-8889 (ligne d'aide)

Someone on the Internet: “jeudi au pavillon rosemont c'est réservé à ça si je ne me trompe [...] Cest une infirmiere du secteur au clsc qui se déplace dans les bureaux de stella et fait passer les testes ! ”

Clinique médicale La Licorne

https://www.cliniquemedicalelalicorne.com

Address: 808 rue Ontario Est, Montréal (Québec) H2L 1N9

Autre

Clinique jeunesse du CLSC (30 ans et moins)

L'Alternative (en train de fermer)

Le Quorum (rdv et résultats en ligne via Carnet Santé Québec)

la Clinique du Quartier Latin (15$; fast appointments, 1-2 weeks for results; poly-friendly)

CLSC La petite-patrie

Other

If you want to meet people (or places) with specific interests, you can let me know as I might have more recommendations.

Recommendations from a friend

Archive

Now close :(

• Obsidem Games (“If you were kidnapped in real life, would you have puzzles to solve in order to escape? No, you'd use your wits, ingenuity and objects around you. If you were in a Space Station, would you have to solve a Sudoku to open a locked door? Of course not.”)

Notes