Talk:West Island

Weasel Words
This article is full of weasel words, ie "exceptionally unique" "one of the finest schools" "has a special place"

"Prior to 1980"
 Prior to 1980, people seldom used the term "The West Island".[citation needed] 

Not true. I lived in DDO from 1962 to 1980 and I remember it being called the West Island as far back as 1970. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.53.127.157 (talk) 08:32, 26 May 2013 (UTC)

Untitled
Saint-Laurent, Lachine, Lasalle and Cote Saint-Luc are NOT part of the West Island. The table was modified to reflect that because someone changed it to include them.

I have also lived both in the West Island and downtown, and I have heard the appellation "Waste Island." It may have originated as a derogatory statement by people who live downtown, but it has been appropriated by younger West Islanders as a show of pride in the West Island. I don't think that's POV at all. Darkcore 20:58, 18 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Whoever did the 2006 population counts, how did you get the numbers for Pierrefonds/Roxboro and Ile Bizard/Ste. Genevieve? I couldn't find them since they are boroughs of montreal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 20.132.69.41 (talk) 16:03, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Waste Island?
I've lived and taught in the West Island for over 40 years and never heard the term "waste island" used in common parlance amongst teens (my students) Gen-Y, Gen-X, or Boomers. Seems to reflect more the original article writer's prejudices than the actual state of affairs.


 * "The two Philinos restaurants are in areas as different from each other as chalk from cheese—one in the heart of Montreal's Greek sector, the other smack-dab in the middle of a waste-island shopping mall."


 * "It's not enough that I have to drive 56km every day to the Waste-Island to get to work and back, but on top of that, the office is located less than a block away from an industrial dump site."


 * "He made us all get up early on Saturday mornings and take the bus way out to his parents' place in the Waste Island (Pointe Claire) to practice for hours in the basement."


 * "A trio of Waste Island misfits is making its bid to bridge the sonic gap between pop and the avant-garde in this city."


 * "I have always been told that the west island, is a waste island, but it seems upon looking a little closer that there is some culture there."


 * "The Waste Island's new buzz band."


 * Darkcore 17:23, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

What on earth is "Waste Island"? I live in West Island and never heard of the term Waste Island. Anyways, on a slightly different topic, with the exception of Montreal Est, de-mergers were strongly tied with the percentile of English-speakers in each borough. One closer look at the demographics of each reinstated city, will show that almost all have a majority of English-speakers. Maybe this should be included as well.

East-Island ?
I have heard a few anglophone aquaintances refer to the other part of the island as the "East End" (which I can't seem to find on the wiki, spelling ?). Is there any other term such as East-Island ever used ?--Marc pasquin 01:54, 7 August 2005 (UTC) ive heard that west island is the boringest part of montreal

Never heard of the "East Island", just the East End. I grew up in West Island and I only heard the term "Waste Island" a few times, usually by people who weren't from there. The article on the mergers needs more information, it is too simplistic. The West Island is never viewed as a "hick town" to my knowledge (Hudson is referred to that way though). The West Island is known as a rich suburb where you can have a good time if you have a car. As far as suburbs go the West Island is a damn good one I'd say.

Waste Island
When i first gto to Montreal, i moved to DDO not too far Sources and Pierrefonds Blvds. My friends were from Ste-Anne and some of them had moved in pierrefond and it made sence to meet them there. Now i cant say i didn't have a good time, working at McD's was a great social experience :)

Now during that time - about 10 years ago - I think we always refered to the area as "Waste Island" or simply "The Waste" a distortion, of course, of the word West. The Waste as we put it comprised the towns of Pierrefond, Dollars-des-Ormeaux, Pointe-Claire, Kirkland, Ile Bizzard, the west part of Dorval, Sainte-Geneviève and Roxboro. If anything i wouldn't be suprised that we are the original kids who called the ares Waste Island

Why? I dont know, maybe because there is no way in or out of the area without a car. Public transit are poor when it comes to link with the city, there is no Metro stations throughout the West end. Being kind of isolated, kids stuck around in the area and, as any closed culture, they developed a unique value system. Only there it's based based on money, car, girls/jocks and boasting. BUT i see there something i dont see elsewhere and it's the sense of community. It's a closedd area that can live well on itself. Then again why "waste"? Maybe because nothing new arises there, you know the Fairview, St-John Blvd and thats about whats there when it comes to go out without a car.

Note that this is my own observation and i dont mean to harm anyone here...

Or course i'm sure you get the same out East, past Anjou and well in Pointe-Aux-tremble, but i wouldn't know. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ugocrazy (talk • contribs) 01:12, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Mis-positioned Google Earth marker
I arrived at this article unintentionally whilst browsing in GE. The West Island marker is (at the time of writing) superimposed on top of West Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands at S12* 11.217' E96 49.700'. I do not know how to fix this error myself (Google Earth Wikilayer markers) and am merely reporting it for the benefit of Montreal residents who might be wondering where it had gone. EatYerGreens (talk) 16:39, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Bilingual?
The article states at its introduction that "most of the residents are bilingual", yet further down the census Canada figures list 1.3% as actually using English and French. What would actually be the basis for claiming that most of the residents are bilingual? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.155.107.231 (talk) 18:39, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
 * The definition of bilingual has that one knows two languages, but doesn't make a statement about what one uses. West Islanders manage to get by quite well w/out using French. Although, I'm a bit suspicious of the technical definition for "using" in that census that the figure would be as low as 1.3%. AngusCA (talk) 21:39, 1 July 2011 (UTC)
 * That census is about "Language spoken at home", not about languages spoken or known in general. For instance, I am bilingual and comfortable in both French and English, but the language I speak at home is French. Thelo (talk) 23:50, 16 July 2016 (UTC)

Which areas do actually belong to the West Island?
The text under the heading "Merger and demerger" is confusing, the text says that Saint-Laurent, LaSalle and Lachine aren't in the West Island, yet they are coloured as such on the map. Is there a general agreement in the popular opinion or official definitions (if there are any) on exactly which areas constitute the West Island, or does that depend on who you ask? In the latter case, how? Also, I would guess that another heading than "City" in the table would be more including of those areas that haven't been independent cities for seven years now, but I can't come up with a better term myself. Any suggestions? //130.243.135.93 (talk) 11:40, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, I just noticed that. FWIW, Lachine etc. are served by the West Island edition of the Gazette, and as a west islander myself who moved there with his family in 1962 I've certainly grown up with the understanding that Lachine et al are part of the eastern portion of the West Island. I'm going to remove that as unsourced POV and ask that we discuss this here before restoring. If I'm right, the table will also have to be revised and the population of the region, as well. I see the change was made by User:Darkcore way back in February 2004, but without any discussion. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 16:38, 25 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I've undone all my edits. That edit removing the three boroughs has been unopposed since 2004, even if it does contradict the map. Shawn in Montreal (talk) 14:48, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Animals
The Great Blue Heron is an animal that live on the river shoreline of Montreal-the west island. I have a photo I took myself and will upload and add soon as possible.--Mark v1.0 (talk) 16:07, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Maps
I put two historical map links in the history section. I don't know the legal rights of making a copy and posting a thumbnail image of the map, or posting the map itself.

1924 map http://amicus.collectionscanada.ca/aaweb-bin/aamain/itemdisp?sessionKey=999999999_142&l=0&v=0&lvl=1&itm=38373045&d=2&all=0&rsn=&dt=&spi=- http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=4126182&back_url=%28%29&&back_url=%28%29

1879 map http://services.banq.qc.ca/sdx/cep/document.xsp?id=0000174244&epage=3&eview=CARTES_PLANS/174244/174244_094.tif