Our lectures take place on the 3rd Thursday of the month, starting at 19:30.

History of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue

Speaker: Ryan Young
When: Thursday, January 15, 2026, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: Centennial Hall,
       288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English, followed by a bilingual question period

Ryan Young is a Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue City Councillor and a College Professor at John Abbott College who has done extensive research about the history of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. Every year, he leads a number of historical walking tours in the old village of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. His talk will cover what is known about the Indigenous history of the area, the beginnings of European settlement on the western tip of the island of Montreal, and then continuing all the way through to the present day. With the aid of historical photographs, the old village buildings of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue that still exist from the 1800s will be discussed along with the early history of Macdonald College in the early 1900s.

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Uncorking the Past: The Saga of the Beaconsfield Vineyard

Speaker: Mona Andrée Rainville
When: Thursday, February 19, 2026, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: Centennial Hall
            288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield H9W 4A4
Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period

Beaconsfield owes its name to a bold experiment. In the late 19th century, a young Englishman, John Henry Menzies, followed the gentleman-farmer fashion of the day by turning a vast stretch of Pointe-Claire farmland into a vineyard he called the Beaconsfield Vineyard. The venture caused a stir at first, but the land soon proved better suited to leisure than to grapes. Meanwhile, part of the property was subdivided, and by 1880 the small community that emerged there was already calling itself Beaconsfield though it would not be officially incorporated until 1910. The story, however, overlooks a key figure. While Menzies is credited as the vineyard’s founder, the estate actually belonged to his wife, Mary Isabella Scott. She acquired it at the end of a rapid series of land flips and was the one who grasped its true potential. Rather than vines, she envisioned a haven of summer cottages. She had six built and, with remarkable foresight, secured perpetual access to the water for their owners. In doing so, she r

Mona Andrée Rainville is a public historian, cultural mediator, genealogist, retired lawyer, and journalist. A law graduate of the Université de Montréal with earlier studies in journalism and physics, she brings her meticulous research and storytelling flair to uncovering the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Recipient of the Percy W. Foy Award from the Société généalogique canadienne-française, she has collaborated with cultural and museum institutions across Canada, France, and the United States. Formerly on the boards of Éditions Histoire Québec and the Fédération Histoire Québec, she now heads the Société d’histoire de Lachine and leads the Facebook group Les 2000 Femmes de la Nouvelle-France.

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The Seigneuresses: These Women of Heart

Speaker: Michel Bélisle
When: Thursday, March 19, 2026, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: Centennial Hall,
       288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English, followed by a bilingual question period

Presentation of the role of seigneuresses, those wives of the great landowners from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The conference features five of them: Louise de Ramezay (Sorel), Louise-Élizabeth de Joybert de Marson (Vaudreuil), Louise-Madeleine Chaussegros de Léry (Rigaud), Marguerite Dufrost de la Jemmerais, mother of Youville (Châteauguay), and Jane Ellice (Beauharnois). These ladies, through their originality and strength of character, would mark in their own way the destiny of their seigniory, shaped by the atmosphere of those times, and the environment where they lived.

Michel Bélisle, author and lecturer, was born in Montréal. He studied Anthropology - Ethnology at Université de Montréal, and Design & Environment at UQAM. He worked as assistant-curator at McCord Museum, curator at Musée régional de Vaudreuil-Soulanges, curator at Trestler House in Vaudreuil-Dorion. He was guest curator for many special exhibitions and wrote several books and brochures on Montreal West-Island and Vaudreuil regions.

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La paroisse St-Joachim et ses quatre églises

Speaker: Anne Collette
When: Thursday, April 16, 2026, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: Centennial Hall
       288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield H9W 4A4
Lecture in French, bilingual question period

Come and discover the exterior and interior architecture of the four successive churches of the Parish of St. Joachim de la Pointe-Claire. You will also learn anecdotes about their history: from a collection theft in 1732 to a patriot's speech in 1837, from a contractor's bankruptcy to the allocation of pews.

Anne Collette is an amateur genealogist passionate about history. Having lived in the West Island for over 40 years, she has participated in numerous projects to promote local heritage and has given several lectures on the subject. Recently, she conducted research on the history of the Parish of St-Joachim de Pointe-Claire and its 4 churches. She presented the results of her research during guided tours as part of the Journées du patrimoine religieux in September 2025.

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A brief history of Urban Art, from Cornbread to Laurent Gascon

Speaker: Archie Fineberg
When: Thursday, May 21, 2026, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: Centennial Hall
       288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield H9W 4A4
Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period

Archie Fineberg’s interest in urban art began in the spring of 2007. Gradually transitioning to full retirement from a career in management and administration, he was looking for an interesting activity to fill his added leisure time.

He was aware of the growing presence of wall-art in the streets and alleyways of Montreal and began photographing this art in his own neighbourhood, NDG. Before long he was hooked on the brightly coloured, often fanciful murals, wild-style tags and expressions of social commentary. He was particularly taken by the skill and aesthetic sensibility that were evident in the work, and the adeptness with which large images, often of great intricacy, were created on a variety of surfaces. Over that first summer, he explored more remote parts of the city, crisscrossing the island of Montreal and photographing scores of images. It quickly became a passion. In the 18 years that followed he accumulated a sizeable collection.

In 2017, he published his first book, Montreal’s Street Art Gallery and in the following year its translation, Montréal, galerie à ciel ouvert. These were followed in 2022 with the sequel book, Montreal’s Street Art Gallery II.

In 2025, he published his third book on the theme of urban art, Laurent Gascon, Ceramic Portraits in Public Spaces - Portraits en céramique dans les espaces publiques. In writing this book, he has taken an interesting new approach that focuses on the career and philosophy of one specific, innovated Montreal artist, Laurent Gascon. This talented, innovative, and prolific artist has enhanced our city’s urban scape throughout his 60-year lifework, and during the past 17 years, he has focused his talent on honouring the achievements of eighteen Québec celebrities in the performing arts. Expressing his admiration of these celebrities, he created a portrait mural of each one. The design and medium he employs is unique. His process is fascinating, using techniques that he developed that result in the uniqueness of his installations.

In his presentation, Archie Fineberg will reveal this and more about Gascon and the people he has immortalized in his portraits.

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