Bylaw still an issue

A bylaw that prevents unlicensed tour guides from offering tours in Montreal is still standing in the way of Indigenous people sharing their history with visitors, according to a Montreal-based activist and tour guide.

Donovan King has long advocated for changes to bylaw G-2, which prohibits individuals from leading a tour in the city unless they have a license from an accredited institution such as the Institut de tourisme et d’hotellerie du Quebec (ITHQ).

But courses at the ITHQ are competitive to get into, and can be costly, setting students back almost $3,000 just to get licensed.

Moreover, the courses are a big time commitment, lasting seven months over two terms for a total of 240 in-person teaching hours.

And perhaps the most prohibitive aspect for tour guides is that the ITHQ is a French-language institution, one that he says lacks in Indigenous representation, despite some elements of Indigenous history being integrated throughout the course.

“If these tour guides don’t know anything about Indigenous history, it’s a huge setback for Indigenous tourism,” he said.

King has operated a Haunted Montreal tour in the city for years, educating visitors on the city and the dark history behind some of Montreal’s biggest tourist spots. More recently, he’s also been working with Indigenous tour guides who have faced barriers to obtaining tour guiding licenses, as part of his new walking tour “Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal.”

He says that technically, bylaw G-2 would mean the tour is illegal and could be shut down, because unlicensed tour guides are involved in its production.

“That would be absolutely devastating for the public. Indigenous tourism is very popular, and people are already denied opportunities to learn about Mohawk culture (because of bylaw G-2),” he said. “It shouldn’t be a homogenous, generic type of tour that’s Eurocentric and presents the city as this wonderful French place instead of looking at the realities of many populations here, especially disadvantaged ones.”

King said he most recently experienced the limitations of bylaw G-2 at a Tourism Montreal event earlier this month, where the organization was launching its summer season.

He had emailed Tourism Montreal in advance to request that he could promote the Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal tour at his booth, and asked the organization if he would be able to promote it, given that technically the tour would be using Indigenous tour guides who are unlicensed, and would therefore technically be illegal under bylaw G-2.

Tourism Montreal had told King that only guided tours conducted by certified tour guides would be allowed to table at the event, and so King decided not to attend.

Sarah Justine Leduc-Villeneuve, Tourism Montreal’s director of destination development and programs, told The Eastern Door that the organization is bound by the city’s laws.

“We’re very sensitive to the issue, and we understand the issue,” Leduc-Villeneuve said. “As of now, since the law is in place, we have no other choice but to comply with the law, and that’s why in this specific case we had to inform Donovan that he couldn’t attend the event with unlicensed guides.”

She said that while the organization can’t legally support unlicensed tour guides, they want to make every effort to promote Indigenous tourism in the city, particularly in regard to Kahnawake, given its proximity to Montreal.

“We really hope to be in a very open dialogue with communities, we’re working with local communities and with Tourisme Autochtone Quebec (Quebec Indigenous Tourism) as well,” she said. “We have a very strong bond and relationships with businesses and the Indigenous community in general, it’s something that makes us very proud.”

Tourism Montreal does not make the laws,” she said. “We’re not the city.”

The City of Montreal could not be reached in time for The Eastern Door’s publishing deadline - however, at a City Hall meeting on April 20, King asked councillors if it would be legal to hire unlicensed Indigenous tour guides despite the bylaw, and if not, what he should do as a tour guide operator promoting truth and reconciliation.

“You are right, there is a structural issue when it comes to obtaining certification as a tour guide,” said city councillor Vana Nazarian in response to King’s question. “I want to reassure you that we are actively working on the file to address the question of accessibility to the certification…I reiterate that we aim to make Montreal a model for respectful and inclusive Indigenous tourism and your initiative certainly helps us contribute to that.”

King said that he plans to keep pushing at the City Hall level, and he is committed to doing things formally to ensure real change is embedded into the local law.

“I want to make things are by the book, I want to make sure we’re making progress, I want this above board,” he said. “I want to change the systemic problem.”

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