I’m a huge fan of street photography and the change of scenery was rather inspiring. Indeed, Montreal has quite a few characters and an interesting population, different from Ottawa’s. Newcomers are from different areas of the world, for instance. While the Black population in Ottawa is often from Somalia or Djibouti, in Montreal, there are a lot of people from Haiti or from the French Islands. Ottawa has more Lebanese, while Montreal has immigrants from Northern Africa. Asians in Ottawa are often from China, but in Montreal people seem to be from South-East Asia—I heard Tagalog, Vietnamese, etc.
These are just observations, of course, not an official study.
I noted a lot of panhandlers in Montreal, too, especially around Sainte Catherine and in The Village. Or am I so used to see panhandlers around the Rideau area in Ottawa that I don’t notice them anymore? I hope not. That said, Montreal is still a very safe city, even though you can always use basic travel safety tips for women.
The Old Montreal, Hochelaga and The Village were great spots for street photography. Here is a sample of the “People of Montreal”!
Amazing stealth photography! I love people watching, so this was the ideal post for me! Just wondering what each of the people were doing etc. love the lovers and the little girl at the church door and the man reading. Maybe I am naive, but what is a panhandler?
Panhandler is the common term for “homeless” or “beggar” here 😉
Like you, I love people watching… it’s fascinating!
That’s exactly why I live Montreal so much – it feels so multi-cultural to me!
There are definitely more panhandlers in Montreal than Ottawa.
I thought so too. But Ottawa s multicultural to me, the French!
I love your pictures, it really tells us a story each time! So many people and so many cultures but they are melting together! And it ‘s hard to pop form the crowd but somehow some people really succeed on appearing different, by a unique way of dressing theirselves for example… I love Mtl on week-ends !
Thank you 🙂