DebConf16/Bids/Montreal

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Clockwise from top: Downtown Montreal as seen from the Champlain Bridge; McGill University; Saint Joseph's Oratory; the Old Montreal featuring the Montreal Clock Tower and the Jacques Cartier Bridge during the Montreal Fireworks Festival; a view of the Notre-Dame Basilica from Place d'Armes; and the Olympic Stadium

Contents

[edit] Why Montreal

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picture from http://www.themainmtl.com/2014/03/07/montreal-get-ready-for-summer/
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Tam Tam at Mont-royal on Sundays (picture from http://untappedcities.com/2013/05/27/sundays-montreal-guerriers-de-la-montagne-knights-warriors-mount-royal/)
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The Knights and Warriors of Mount Royal, Sundays in the summer (picture from http://larpforlife.wordpress.com/local-larp/)
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Quartier des spectacles during summer festivals)

Montreal is a nice central city for the US as well as for Europe. Its weather has its up and down, but in summer is quite decent (not too hot). In winter, while cold, Montreal is close to lots of great locations for winter sports: skiing, snowboarding, hiking, etc.

With all its festivals, it can be a busy place, but there are definitely some periods where it gets much calmer, and even then, festivals are a great place to meet people and learn of new and interesting things!

Montreal is located on an island in the Saint-Laurent river, and is built around Mount Royal, a small hill which is a nice spot for summer activities as well, for low-difficulty hiking, or barbecuing in groups.

The transport system in Montreal is relatively well-designed. There is a (fairly cheap? at 24$?) weekly pass available for using the buses and subway system as well as the 747 bus which does the transport between the airport (located in the city) and the city center. Although the subway stations have been slow in building elevators to make it possible to avoid using stairs, all buses are equipped with measures to make them more easily accessible.

Security-wise, Montreal is a very safe city. No need to worry about walking alone at night or taking the bus or the subway. In all buses, women can ask the driver to get down between two stops if it makes them feel safer. Our hospitals are great and tap water is excellent. There is a strong LGBT community in Montreal and diversity is taken seriously everywhere.

If something ever happened to your electronic material, Montreal is home to lots of small and big electronic stores. One of the biggest and most diverse store is Addison. From resistors and PCB boards to duct tape and audio cable, everything computer related can be found there.

[edit] Visas, customs and entering the country

All the information for visiting Canada, and to apply for a visa online is available here

The nearest airport is codenamed YUL. It is located within the city on the mid western section of the island (see on map). Going from there to the downtown area can be achieved by a dedicated bus line (line number 747) for 7 CAD$ or by taxi which is more expensive.

[edit] Local team

Please add yourself if you are part of the team!

Name/nick Location (town) Debian/DebConf experience Comments
Mathieu Trudel (cyphermox) Montreal Debian contributor; attended first DebConf in 2014.
Fabián Rodríguez (User:MagicFab) Montreal
Jean Schurger (jeansch) Montreal DM / first debconf in 2014, debian user, sysadmin, software developer French, Living in Montréal, Montréal bid enthousiaste (part or the local organisation bid meetings, with cyphermox and Tiago)
Tiago Bortoletto Vaz (tiago) Montreal DD since 2009, DebConf attendee from 2004 to 2014 being part of video, talks, bursaries, C&W and DC commitee. Mostly mentoring.
Jerome Charaoui (lavamind) Montreal DM, debian user, sysadmin sysadmin at College Maisonneuve
Michel Metzger Montreal debian user, sysadmin, software developper French
Julien Tayon Montreal debian, *BSD user, sysadmin, software developer French
John Gosset Montreal debian,arch,* user, sysadmin, software developer Canadian
Christophe Catherine Montreal ubuntu user, sysadmin Belgian, ex Ile-sans-fils administrator
Stéphane Graber (stgraber) Montreal Ubuntu Developer, attended a previous debconf
Michaël Richard Montreal debian user, sysadmin, software developer Quebecois
Mathieu Desnoyers Montreal LTTng author Quebecois
Gabriel Filion (LeLutin) Montreal debian user, sysadmin, software developer
Louis-Philippe Véronneau (pollo) Montreal sysadmin, debian user has organized previous events with more than 200 people, works as sysadmin for Collège de Maisonneuve's student union
Micah Montreal DD, attended many debconfs, volunteered for quite a few, and organized NYC. I have very limited time right now, but can help with mentoring.
Biella Montreal DebConf10 organizer Not much time available, but a little help is possible
Lucie Borne Montreal not geek but use Fedora ;) Event organisation skill by profession
Pablo Duboue (DrDub) Montreal DebConf10 organizer Had tried for Montreal for DebConf before, hope this time works!

[edit] Contact Details

[edit] Venue options

Criteria McGill University (main option) Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) Concordia University
Location Venue is situated downtown Montreal. Student residences available. Venue is situated downtown Montreal, at the crossroad of 3 of the 4 subway lines. Student residences available. Venue is situated downtown Montreal, can also host in Loyola campus, a very beautiful and calm place a bit far from downtown. Student residences available in both campi.
Transport Airport to venue is 45 to 60 minutes by public transport Airport to venue is 45 to 60 minutes by public transport TBD
Accomodation Nearby hotels or student residences Nearby hotels or student dorms Nearby hotels or student dorms
Food Internal caterer External caterer Internal and external caterer
Capacity 450 people 400 people TBD
Advantages
  • central location (and good public transport)
  • hundreds of restaurants within easy walking distance
  • English speaking campus
  • bar in the building
  • central location (and good public transport)
  • hundreds of restaurants within easy walking distance
  • flexibility to bring in our own catering
TBD
Downsides
  • Too downtown-ish
  • Can be expansive, depending on security fees
Too downtown-ish TBD
Potential Dates May 15th to August 15th June 19-30 or July 18-26 TBD
Details /Venues/McGill /Venues/UQAM /Venues/Concordia

[edit] More venues

  • Find one or more alternate venues:
    • Approach CRIM to see if they can host, but then accomodations might be more complicated (farther)

[edit] Venues which fell through

  • College de Maisonneuve: In July 2016 it's hosting the headquarters of the Jeux du Québec a major sporting event, and the previous month will be in preparations. They can't host another event in the following weeks to give respite to the staff. However, the College administrators would be very interested in sponsoring DebConf17, providing all spaces for free and more. The venue was being documented at Venues/CollegeDeMaisonneuve.

[edit] Power

"The 5-15 socket is standard in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Panama. It is also used in Central America, the Caribbean, northern South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and, as a legacy, parts of Brazil), Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia. This socket is recommended in IEC standard 60906-2 for 120 volt 60 Hz installations." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets)

  • A plug.jpg
  • Domestic AC Type B USA.jpg

[edit] Potential dates

  • Between May 15th and August 15th
    • McGill residences are open for rental
    • No regular university classes during this period
  • Last weeks of June
    • UQAM is mostly free, it's the summer semester but it's also a much more interesting time due to festivals:
      • Francofolies (second/third week of June? was June 12-22, 2014)
      • Jazz Festival (last week of June? was June 26-July 6, 2014)
    • This means accommodation could be more expensive, less available due to the number of people staying in Montreal for the festivals.
  • Between August 12 (end of Summer semester) and September 6 (beginning of Autumn semester).
    • UQAM is basically unoccupied, and this is largely outside of the festivals; so accommodations would be available as well.
  • Beginning of September
    • Tree leaves start turning orange, red... It's a beautiful time of the year, not too warm and not cold yet.
    • Very impractical for our guests in academia.
    • Accomodation on campus and rooms will be less available, but accommodation off campus (hotels) would be cheaper.

[edit] Prospective local sponsors & support

[edit] Business

[edit] Institutional / government

[edit] Community

[edit] Fun and Free time

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pic by tiago
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picture from http://montrealtips.com/best-parks-montreal-outdoor/
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Bixi in Montreal by Adam Fagen

Possible day trips:

Activity Where Description Transportation time Costs per person Disability friendly?
Biking "Le P'tit Train du Nord" linear park look it up on the map! Day biking trip on a beautiful biking trail 1 hour by train till St-Jérôme town To be evaluted more clearly (transportation + bike rental) We have to check in recumbent bikes can be rented
Hiking at Mont Saint-Hilaire natural reserve look it up on the map! A beautiful day of hiking at a local "mountain" (414 m - 1,358 ft) 45 minutes by bus To be evaluated more clearly (transportation + 6$ entry fee) No
A day at Lake Memphremagog look it up on the map! Enjoy a day at the beach or a hike through the beautiful Cherry River swamp 1 hour 25 minutes by the express bus, 3 hours 15 by the local bus (stoping in small villages) 31$ (bus ticket) Yes (both the beach and the swamp)
Visit Fort Chambly (dating back from 1675) look it up on the map! Visit the fort and participate in the activities offered 1-2 hour by bicycle, 30 minutes by bus 16$ for the bus + 5,65$ entry fee Not all of the site
Kayaking on the Chambly basin look it up on the map! Rent kayaks and have some fun on the Chambly basin 1-2 hour by bicycle, 30 minutes by bus 16$ for the bus, 15$/hour (solo) to 20$/hour (tandem) rental fee Only if you feel safe getting in a kayak
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    View at the top of Mont Saint-Hilaire

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    "Le P'tit Train du Nord" bike paths

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    View from Lake Memphremagog's beach

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    View of Fort Chambly from the Chambly basin

  • Wine & Cheese party

While the summer in Quebec can be quite hot, a picnic would not be the most appropriate place for cheese to be happy. However, Montréal is full of churches, and some rent their basement for events. A such fresh place would be particulaty enjoyable for the party.

- The Concordia church is an option http://www.concordia.ca/offices/chaplaincy/loyola-chapel.html

- The "Église Saint-Enfant-Jésus du Mile End" is another one http://www.diocesemontreal.org/leglise-a-montreal/nos-lieux-de-culte/nos-paroisses/paroisse/saint-enfant-jesus-40montreal41.html

[edit] Transit

[edit] Public transportation

Montreal has a very nice public transportation system for a city in North America. Société de transport de Montréal (STM ) is known to be efficient, clean, safe and relatively cheap. STM's website is very complete and uses OpenStreet Map to implement routing and map features.

Information for people with disabilities can be found here. All buses in Montreal are wheelchair accessible. Sadly, the Orange line is the only subway line that can be called wheelchair accessible. Even there, only a few subway stations are equipped with elevators. To palliate to this, STM offers door-to-door public transit service called Paratransit. Paratransit is accessible to people visiting Montreal from outside the Quebec province and globally uses the same fares as the rest of the public transportation system.

[edit] Subway

The following section has been taken from Wikipedia.

The Montreal Metro consists of four lines, which are usually identified by their colour or terminus station. The terminus station in the direction of travel is used to differentiate between directions of travel. The busiest line is the Orange Line, while the least is the Blue Line.

On weekdays and Saturday and Sundays, the Metro service runs from approximately 5:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on the Green, Orange and Yellow lines and 5:30 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. on the Blue line. The busiest station on the network is Berri UQAM, which connects the Orange, Green and Yellow lines.

[edit] Bus

The following section has been taken from Wikipedia.

The STM bus service operates well over 200 bus routes serving a number of different markets. These routes serve an average of 1,403,700 daily passengers each weekday.

  • Local network routes, numbered 10-299, generally operate seven days per week, from 5:00 am to 1:00 am (Monday to Friday) and usually with a shorter span of service on weekends and holidays. Within this classification, some routes operate only at peak hours Monday through Friday, and sometimes only in peak directions. Others, numbered above 251, are specifically designed to serve the needs of senior citizens.
  • All-night network routes, with route numbers from 300-399, generally operate from 1:00 am to 5:00 am, seven days per week with some only operating early on Saturday and Sunday ("late" on Friday and Saturday)
  • Express Network routes, numbered 400-499, are limited-stop routes. Some routes are classified as Metrobus, and Trainbus and are geared to deliver peak-hour commuters to specific Metro and commuter train stations.
  • Shuttle Network routes, numbered 700-799, are special-purpose routes serving hockey games, tourist areas like Old Montreal and La Ronde (amusement park), as well as an all-hours route between downtown and Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

On August 30, 2010, the STM introduced the 10 Minutes Max network. This "network", overlaid on both the local and express networks described above, schedules buses at a maximum headway of 10 minutes, between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., Monday to Friday, on the 31 of the STM's busiest bus routes. A few routes support that maximum headway only in the customary peak direction mornings and afternoons.

[edit] Car rental

[edit] Taxi

[edit] Network connectivity

There is a free city-wide network. Local team have good connexion with the 'Ile Sans Fils' organisation.

[edit] Food

Montreal is a very culturally diverse city, as such, many varieties of food, including vegetarian and vegan, are readily available. The local staple food is poutine.

[edit] Cheeses

  • Quebec cheeses.gif

There are many cheesemakers in Canada and Quebec. The Canadian Cheese Directory lists all the cheese available in the country. The Quebec section may be of interest.

[edit] Vegan

Several restaurants offer vegan food in Montreal. The VeganMontreal blog lists some of the best places with reviews.

[edit] Status and priory list

Please take a look at our status page to know what changed recently and see how we comply with the priority list.

[edit] Resources

[edit] General

[edit] past DebConf data

http://media.debconf.org/reports/ (final reports)

[edit] Other free software project conference bids/examples for Montreal

[edit] Meetings

[edit] Links

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