Global True Lithuania Encyclopedia of Lithuanian heritage worldwide

Montreal, Quebec

Montreal Lithuanian community is the oldest in Canada, the only large community born before World War 2 and the Soviet Genocide refugees came. It is second only to Toronto in terms of numbers of Lithuanians. Montreal is the only significant area of Lithuanian-Canadian heritage outside Ontario.

In fact, the French-speaking Montreal and its surroundings arguably has at least as much Lithuanian heritage as the entire remaining French-speaking world combined.

St. Casimir Lithuanian church

The original Lithuanian parish of Montreal has been established in 1907, becoming a hub of Lithuanians. The first St. Casimir Lithuanian church was constructed in 1915 and it attracted multiple waves of immigrants: pre-WW1, the 1920s, and some Soviet Genocide refugees. Its address is 3426 Parthenais.

The current church building was erected in 1955-1956 after the parish expanded. Its main Lithuanian symbol is the statue of St. Casimir (the sole Lithuanian saint) above the altar, adorned with the Lithuanian columns of Gediminas. The altar is surrounded by two chapels in traditional Lithuanian wooden carving.

Under the church is the events hall where Lithuanians meet after masses and various events are held, allowing Lithuanians to meet each other.

In 1932, Lithuanians made the largest non-French speaking group in the district of St. Marie (where the St. Casimir Church is located) and there were some 5500 Lithuanians in Montreal in total.

In 2007, St. Casimir Lithuanian church became the only Lithuanian institution in Canada to celebrate a centenary. To commemorate this, a traditional Lithuanian cross has been constructed outside the church. While traditionally Lithuanian crosses are made of wood, this one was built of a more permanent metal.

Currently, the St. Casimir Lithuanian parish of Montreal is the oldest surviving Lithuanian parish outside of historic Lithuanian lands.

Our Lady Gate of Dawn church

As the droves of Soviet Genocide refugees arrived in Montreal in 1948, there was some rift between them and the older „economic“ immigrants. Proudly intellectual, patriotic and anti-communist, the post-WW2 refugees saw Canada as their temporary step, English/French languages as a temporary need, and often saw the older „economic“ migrants as too unpatriotic, uneducated or too leftist. At the same time, these "older immigrants" did not yet understand what atrocities the leftist Soviet Union has committed in Lithuania.

Even more than the St. Casimir Lithuanian church, therefore, the Our Lady Gate of Dawn church (built by the Lithuanian refugees in 1953-1955 at 1465 Rue de Seve) is Lithuanian. Everything here reminds of Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, beginning with the name (the church is named after a famous miraculous image of Virgin Mary in Vilnius that hangs on its Gate of Dawn) and form (the church itself reminds the Gate of Dawn).

The interior is also especially Vilnius-esque with a statue of Three Crosses behind the altar. The statue is remarkably similar to the Three Crosses monument, one of the symbols of Vilnius, that had been destroyed by the Soviets in 1950 (since rebuilt in 1989). Such unique arrangement meant that while Lithuania was occupied, symbolically, the praying congregation was always facing the lost-behind-the-Iron-Curtain Vilnius during the Mass.

This makes the church not extremely elaborate, but highly symbolic and solemn as the sun rays fall on the Three Crosses of Vilnius during a mass. Very appropriate for a church that was meant to be a „temporary step“ yet ended up being permanent, as when Lithuania finally became independent in 1990, it was too economically ravaged and most of the Montreal Lithuanian refugees already too ingrown into the Canadian fabric for them to actually return.

There are no stained-glass Windows inside. Outside, there is a painting of the Our Lady Gate of Dawn miraculous painting from Vilnius that is visible from the outside above the entrance (in a similar fashion as the real painting hangs above the entrance of the Vilnius Gate of Dawn) by Bukauskas. In 1981, this painting has replaced a mosaic that fell down due to nearby subway construction works. Among the few artworks inside is the 1958 plaque to commemorate those who died for Lithuanian freedom – volunteers, soldiers, riflemen, and guerillas.

Like in St. Casimir Church, the entire basement is a massive Lithuanian area. The main basement hall could be used for events and even basketball matches, while there are also rooms for many Lithuanian organizations ranging from parish choir to pensioner club (doubling as a Lithuanian library) to sports clubs. There are interesting artworks depicting Lithuania and Canada by A. Tamošaitis.

Like in St. Casimir Church, a traditional Lithuanian sun-cross is standing near the entrance (here it is without inscriptions/dedications and simply marks that the both purposes of the building - a church and a Lithuanian hub).

Like many Lithuanian-Canadian churches, Our Lady Gate of Dawn was was designed by A. Kulpa-Kulpavičius.

Our Lady Gate of Dawn church rectory is also much more than a priest's residence, serving as a continuation of the Lithuanian zone of Our Lady Gate of Dawn. Also, the rectory serves as a Lithuanian language school, and, for decades, served as the premises for a key Montreal Lithuanian institutions "LITAS" credit union (until it was closed in 2020s).

Lithuanian Vytautas club of Montreal

Montreal Vytautas the Great Lithuanian club was a large edifice where one could eat, drink, play and party. It was expanding since its opening in 1907. In the 1960s, it received a new two-floored edifice and had ~700 members at the time. Sadly, less than a decade passed and the club was sold by its owners in 1971, leaving the two parishes as the only „Lithuanian clubs“ in the area.

The former Vytautas club is now a sports shop and even its Lithuanian cornerstone has been removed (moved into the Lithuanian-Canadian archives in Mississauga).

Lithuanian-named locations in Montreal

Montreal Lithuanians have been active in putting Lithuania on the map of Canada and Montreal by lobbying for name changes, mainly ~1960s-1980s when Lithuanians already attained some influence and Lithuania was still occupied, making a need to remind Canadians about Lithuania especially felt.

Under the initiative of the Lithuanian community, a street in Montreal has been named Rue Lithuania (Lithuania Street). The street is suburban and consists mostly of townhouses.

According to some sources, Rue Senkus in LaSalle is named after a Lithuanian council member. If you know more about who this Senkus was, please write in the comments.

Lithuanian lakes around Montreal

The beautiful Laurentian Hills west of Montreal has something unavailable anywhere else in Americas: Lithuanian lakes!

They were born out of the vastness of untamed Canada and unique Quebec governmental policies. At that time, it was common for government to "open up new lakes" by paving (or expressing intention to pave) a road to some hitherto inaccessible lake deep in the hills. Typically, a circular road around such a lake would be built that would immediately convert "useless and unreachable lands" into valuable lots. More valuable lots would be those between the lake and the road, each of them having a lakeshore, while the properties on the other side of the road would be cheaper.

Given that these lakes and lands were uninhabited before, the first residents/developers had a major say in the placenames in and around the lake. Some of the lakes were "opened up" during ~1960s when the post-WW2 Lithuanian refugees were already well-settled in Montreal. They were looking for "second home" in a pretty countryside. In several places, they have teamed up to buy out numerous lots at the same lakes, creating "Lithuanian summer colonies" there.

The "most visible" such colony looking on the map is Lac Dainava (Lake Dainava) after Dainava (a.k.a. Dzūkija), an ethnographic region in southeastern Lithuania. It is an artificial lake, named so by its Lithuanian developers. The wooded area around the lake reminds of the real Dainava that is full of forests, giving a hint for the name.

However, the "most Lithuanian" lake of Montreal area is Lake Sylvere. While it lacks a Lithuanian name, it has a Columns of Gediminas memorial rising above the surrounding hills. Built by the Lithuanian scouts in 1970 and still taken care and repainted by the local Lithuanians, the memorial is visible from the lake and it is accessible by an hour of rather difficult hiking. Lithuanians owned some 30 lots around the lake. After retiring, many Lithuanians moved here for good. Lithuanian symbols and flags may still be seen at some homes around the lake.

In 1963-1997, one lakeshore of Lake Sylvere hosted Camp Baltija, which was a Lithuanian summer camp for Montreal area Lithuanian kids, initially attracting some 60-100 campers every year. However, as the number of Lithuanians in Montreal were declining, the camp closed for good in 1997 and the rented land was returned to the government. The government has demolished the abandoned Lithuanian buildings there, so they would not be used for illicit activities.

Some 30 km from the shores of Lake Sylvere, near Lake Lac Archambault, Lithuanian developers from Bulota family have named a small road after the Lithuanian second-largest river Neris (Neris road).

The third massive Lithuanian development took place near Lac a La Truit lake. Here, a German businessman Genteman, who married a wife from Lithuania, together developed an entire lakeside resort town with many summer homes and chalets. Some of them they have sold, others they have retained, renting them out to travelers. Some of these chalets have Lithuanian names, such as "Žiema" (Winter), "Vasara" (Summer) or "Ežeras" (Lake). A driveway of these chalets is named after Nida, a famous Lithuanian resort where Diana herself married.

As the entire resort had been developed by the Genteman family, one of the streets - Rue Diana - is actually named after a daughter of the Gentemans who inherited the property and expanded it by the Lithuanian-named chalets and Nida driveway. Many other streets of the resort are named after various famous European mountain towns and, indeed, the hilly Lac a La Truit atmosphere reminds these places well.

Causes for a decline of Lithuanians in Quebec

Canada is a bilingual state: most of its provinces are English-speaking (former colonies of England). However, Quebec (where Montreal is located) has been initially a French colony and has French as the official language. Sings on the Lithuanian churches are thus bilingual (Lithuanian and French) and Montreal Lithuanians are the only sizeable Lithuanian community in a French-speaking land (most historical Lithuanian emigres live in English, Spanish or Portuguese speaking areas). However, the majority of Montreal Lithuanians speak better English than French, Montreal Lithuanian website is also available in just Lithuanian and English. After all, English itself is already the second language to older Lithuanians, making French more difficult to master well. Moreover, English is more important in Canada (and North America) as a whole.

At the time Lithuanians immigrated to Montreal, English language was predominant, and thus seemed a logical choice for integration. After the increase of separatist ideas in Quebec which led to increased requirements to speak French in many jobs, many of the Montreal Lithuanians migrated to Ontario or western Canada.

Montreal also is one of the most-Jewish cities in the world outside Israel, hosting some 100 000 Jews or 2,5% of the population. It has also attracted some Jews from Lithuania, among them the mother of famous singer Leonard Cohen, who is also buried in Montreal.

The map of Lithuanian heritage sites of Montreal area

All the Lithuanian heritage locations of Montreal are marked on this interactive map, made by the "Destination Lithuanian America" expedition (click the link):

Interactive map of Montreal Lithuanian sites