Hangout groups bring English speakers together in Quebec City

Oksana Mukhina

oksana@qctonline.com

At Cafe La Maison Smith in Limoilou, at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday, it’s hard to find a free table. The door opens, and Ben and his friend Anthony come inside. Somebody asks, “Hi, are you Ben? I am here to meet the English-speaking community.” 

The idea of organizing an informal meeting of English speakers originated with Anne Beemelmanns, a research scientist at Université Laval. She came to Quebec from Germany in 2021 during COVID restrictions. She didn’t know anybody in the city, and she didn’t speak French at that time. She found a Facebook group for anglophones in Quebec City, and saw a post from someone in the same situation who was looking for a fellow English speaker to have coffee and a chat. They organized an event and four people came. “I started a Facebook chat. We met every week, and we only did events outside, because we were not allowed to go inside. So we went to get a coffee, or we went for a picnic in the park, and I organized beach events, hiking, and everything about exploring Quebec. And one day, when I did the beach event, Ben joined us,” said Beemelmanns. 

Benjamín Gutiérrez was an English teacher in Mexico and an organizer of hangouts. When he came to Quebec City in 2019, he tried to meet fellow expats with whom he could speak English, but it was difficult. With the help of a Facebook group, he joined Beemelmanns’ event, organized a Facebook page, Quebec City Hangouts in English, (2,600 subscribers) and started to help organize new events.

One table at Café La Maison Smith was not enough for all those who came on Tuesday. It took five or six tables to accommodate the 35 or so attendees. 

The meetings are not only held in cafes, but during festivals (Festival d’Été), at members’ homes for Halloween or Valentine’s Day; outside during group hikes or at board game nights. People from India, Madagascar, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and many other countries meet each other, chat, make friends and sometimes even start dating. 

“This group makes you a part of the English-speaking community,” said Vijay Jayswal (India), a PhD candidate in chemistry at Université Laval and member of the group for some four years.  

Olga Gritsai (Ukraine), a project manager in corporate marketing has found a new hobby over the two years she has been a member of the group; Gutiérrez invited her to learn bachata dancing. She also came to see old friends and to practise English, since her French is already good. 

Brendan Picha (United States), who works remotely for a technology company, came for the first time to meet other English speakers. 

Debdeep Chakraborty (India), an IT architect, can talk about various things – sports, arts, photography. “That quick acceptance [of other cultures] I had never found in any other country. It is the beauty of Quebec.” 

Anthony Formica came here from Winnipeg to study French. He is an administrator of a huge group about travel advice – Quebec City Travel (114,200 subscribers). “It is not just for meeting friends, but also networking, which is very difficult if French is not your mother tongue,” said Formica. 

Language and cultural exchange inspired François Desaulniers to start organizing events 19 years ago. He came to the meeting to see different people, some of whom are members of his group “Quebec City meetup multilingue” (3,500 subscribers). “We have one long table in English, one in French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, a little bit of Russian, Chinese, Japanese.” These meetings build bridges of understanding – sometimes, there are two people from countries at war with each other around one table, but they find something to discuss peacefully. 

Rebecca Gowins Boucher came to Quebec 13 years ago from the United States. She works for an international company and also administers the group “Anglophones living in Quebec City” (over 5,700 subscribers). “There are so many different cultures where they bring a little piece of themselves. It’s amazing.” 

These events are not only for expats. Julie Thibault was born in Quebec and is an active member of hangout groups. “I think these meetings give Canadians living in Quebec a chance to practise their English in an English-speaking environment. It also allows us to understand the reality of immigrants and give them a chance to better know people.” 

Voice of English-speaking Québec has published a useful list of 28 anglophone groups in Quebec City.