Elder Law and Special Needs Section Summer Meeting 2024

Montréal Complètement Cirque (Circus Festival)
This festival offers circus programming throughout the city. For 11 days ending on July 14, Montréal lives to the rhythm of the circus arts and its theaters, streets, parks and sidewalks become the scene of colorful performances. Some free, some ticketed.

Vieux Montréal and Shopping
Neighborhood: Ville-Marie
Step out of the W Montréal into the heart of Old Montréal. To the left, discover Notre Dame Basilica, built in 1656, and known for its intricately designed interior and stained glass chronicling the history of the city. Wander cobblestone streets, embrace chance encounters, and relish historic landmarks. Check out the Bonsecours Market for some unique shopping and stroll along Rue Saint-Paul, the oldest and one of the prettiest of Montréal’s streets. At the enchanting Old Port you can find a Ferris wheel ride, zipline, more shops and a cruise on the St. Lawrence River.

More Shopping in Montréal’s Underground City
Neighborhood: Ville-Marie
Alternatively, go right from the W Montréal for downtown shopping and the Place des festivals, Montréal’s vibrant public plaza. RÉSO is a 20-mile subterranean (and largely climate-controlled) pedestrian network with over 1,600 shops and facilities that connects to three major shopping malls. Don’t get lost!

Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal
Neighborhood: Ville-Marie
The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts is one of Canada’s most visited museums, exhibiting fine arts, music, film, fashion and design. Its rich encyclopedic collection, distributed among five pavilions, includes international art, world cultures, decorative arts and design, and Quebec and Canadian art. For more art, Montréal’s Mural Festival website or app will guide you through the top murals in the city. Boulevard Saint-Laurent is now the largest street art corridor in Canada.

Mount Royal Park
Neighborhood: Ville-Marie
This park is one of Montréal’s largest greenspaces. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (who also designed New York’s Central Park), Mount Royal Park boasts miles of trails and superb views of the city. Here, you can stroll down the tree-lined paths, canoe on Beaver Lake, or visit Saint Joseph’s Oratory, founded by Saint Brother André in 1904, a catholic sanctuary and the largest domed Basilica in North America. Nearby in Le Plateau Mont-Royal you can find the Museum of Jewish Montréal, which offers walking tours through the historically Jewish neighborhoods of Montréal.

Montréal Space for Life is the largest natural science museum complex in Canada, guiding human beings towards a fuller experience of nature. Its Biodôme, Biosphère, Jardin botanique, Insectarium and Planétarium offer a variety of programming year-round. Note that the Biosphère is not located at Olympic Park – it is on St. Helen’s Island.

Biodôme, Insectarium and Planétarium
Olympic Park

Built as the velodrome for the 1976 Olympic Games, the Montréal Biodôme now houses five ecosystems of the Americas under one roof. Experience a walk in nature and observe the interactions between animal and plant species!

Immerse yourself in the world of insects in the new Insectarium de Montréal, which gives visitors the opportunity to mix with, in addition to free-flying butterflies, a number of other live and naturalized insect species.

The Planétarium offers an innovative approach to astronomy, using cutting-edge technology to create a unique experience of the universe through its immersive theatres and exhibits.

Located on St. Helen’s Island, the Biosphère de Montréal houses the first museum entirely dedicated to the connections between society and the environment in North America. An architectural emblem of Montréal since the 1967 World’s Fair, its famous geodesic dome symbolizes social innovation and human inventiveness.

Île Sainte-Hélène (Saint Helen’s Island)
The island is situated immediately offshore from Old Montréal, in the St. Lawrence River, and hosts the Saint Helen Island Fort, the Biosphère and La Ronde amusement park. The island can be accessed by public transit via the Montréal Metro Yellow Line (Jean-Drapeau station), or by car, bicycle or on foot over the Concordia Bridge, or by car over the Jacques Cartier Bridge.

La Ronde amusement park is operated by Six Flags and is the largest amusement park in Quebec. Attractions include live shows and 30+ amusement rides, including 8 roller coasters. One of the roller coasters, Le Monstre, holds the record for highest double-tracked roller coaster in the world.