Little Maghreb
Le Petit Maghreb | |
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Location of Downtown Montreal | |
Coordinates: 45°33′47″N 73°35′41″W / 45.562930°N 73.594753°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Quebec |
City | Montreal |
Borough | Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension |
Postal Code | |
Area code(s) | 514, 438 |
Little Maghreb (French: Petit Maghreb) is a neighbourhood in the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension in Montreal. The neighbourhood is centered on fifteen blocks of Jean Talon Street stretching from Saint-Michel Boulevard in the West to Pie-IX Boulevard in the East.[1] Maghrebi merchants in the area, mainly from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, have joined together to create a Little Maghreb identity for the neighbourhood, in the same way as Chinatown had become a symbol for Chinese Montrealers, and Little Italy had become the focal point of the city's Italian community.[2]
Originally a part of the Saint-Michel neighbourhood, the late 1990s marked the beginning of the neighbourhood's Maghrebi flavour. This was a product of the opening of the Dar Al-Arkam Mosque on the corner of Jean-Talon and 17th Avenue and the arrival of thousands of immigrants from Algeria, Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia.[3]
Little Maghreb is served by the Saint-Michel Metro station on the Blue Line, with the upcoming eastbound extension of the Blue Line also continuing under the district.