Parc Extension District

In 1910, the sector was mostly agricultural and French, but later, as soon as the territory became urbanized, it turned into a sector mostly inhabited by British people.

Because of the massive arrival of Greek immigrants in the 1960's and the 1970's, the area became the "Greek district of Montreal".

Nowadays, the Greek community living in the area is still particularly important.

Then, the arrival of new waves of European immigrants, combined to the construction of the Jean-Talon train station now represent the most important development factors on the territory.

True to its vocation, the district continued to accommodate immigrant populations. Nowadays, approximately one hundred different ethnic groups with more than forty different mother tongues now live in the vicinity. They mostly come from Greece of course, but also from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Haiti. The neighbourhood has been accommodating immigrants for a very long time and the territory is now mostly associated with multiethnicity and multiculturalism.

The economic situation of the newcomers, most of them refugees, is rather precarious and greatly explains the low socio-economic standards of the sector.

The district is known as a poor one. The residents are mainly tenants in residences that have been built quite recently but that are smaller than those in other districts or Montreal boroughs.

There are approximately 7,000 jobs in the area that are distributed mainly between manufacturing and consumer services. A little more than half of the businesses established in the surroundings are retail stores that offer various products to the local multiethnic population.

Because of the “piqueries”, the street gangs and the violence that comes with it, the area was once called the “Bronx” of Montreal.

It happened during the 1980’s, yet the neighbourhood is still called the Bronx. The phenomenon is in regression but the district and the borough still have a bad reputation and certain groups of people continue to feel insecure.

The rates of victimisation and delinquency of youngsters (18 years old and less) and the rates of crimes against property are lower than they are in the City of Montreal. The criminality rate is low, but the criminality is present. Plus, certain sanitary practices of the newcomers who know little about our customs and habits “irritate” the residents.

Thank you for visiting Parc Extension District.
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