Virtual Reality in Higher Education
Enjoy a virtual trip back in time to 1960s Montreal
Where to find us:
4th Space, J.W. McConnell Building
1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.
October 22nd,
10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
and 2.30 p.m. – 4 p.m.
(the VR experience lasts between 5 to 15 min)
About the VR experience
When the iconic Molson Brewery announced in 2018 that it would move its offices out of its original building (established in 1786), a hidden piece of Montreal’s history resurfaced in the public sphere.
One of the many significant events that the brewery witnessed in its 200 years of history was the rise and fall of the Faubourg à m’lasse, a working-class, Francophone neighbourhood located next to the brewery along the shore of the St-Lawrence River.
In the 1960s, on the order of the City of Montreal, this entire neighbourhood was demolished to make room for new urban mega-projects as the city attempted to modernize itself. Today, the Maison Radio-Canada occupies the land where the Faubourg once stood.
What happened to the 5000 residents of the Faubourg who had to be moved, relocated, evicted? What was their story? How did it all happen?
These are just a few of the questions that Concordia University’s “SOCI 280 – Debates & Challenges in contemporary Quebec Society” is trying to answer. The course provides students with a sense of Quebec’s history and demographics, a basic knowledge of provincial social policies, information pertaining to culture, identity and language issues, and key concepts useful to anyone who aims to live and work in Quebec.
Fortunately, before its demolition, the Faubourg had been meticulously documented with photographs, film footage, testimonies and audio recordings. Using this trove of archival material as a reference and consulting records from the CBC/Radio-Canada and Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), our team reconstructed a historically authentic Faubourg apartment of the 1960s, virtually, in a game engine.
In the VR experience, you can explore an apartment of the Faubourg of the 1960s. As you do so, you will come into contact with historically accurate publications, radio music, television footage, photographs and many other daily life items of the era. You will also be accompanied by a narration that offers you additional context on the history and final days of the Faubourg before its demolition.