Montreal has one unbeatable advantage: life happens in French. Settling in with children is often gentler here than elsewhere, provided you tame two local challenges: daycare waiting lists and the long winter.
Currency
Canadian dollar (C$)
Language
French (and English)
Time vs Paris
6h behind
Emergencies
911 (health line: 811)
FIAFE network
The Accueil for French-speaking families
In each city, a volunteer-run association from the FIAFE network welcomes, informs and helps French-speaking families settling in.
Montréal Accueil
Since 1985
Since 1985, Montréal Accueil has been helping French-speaking families find their feet in Quebec: open-house events, typical outings like sugar shack evenings, sports activities and a strong mutual-support network.
Where to meet them
Hosted at the Consulate General of France in Montreal (1501 McGill College); contact through the website.
Sugar shack evenings and typically Quebecois outings
Sports activities, from padel to outdoor trips
Newsletter and mutual-support network for members
Other support networks
Two large national networks also support the French abroad, each with its local chapter.
UFE
UFE Canada Montréal
Since 1984, UFE Canada Montréal has defended the interests of French citizens settled in Quebec and eased their integration: newcomer welcomes, events and a close link with the Consulate.
The Montreal section of Français du monde - ADFE supports French residents of Quebec with their paperwork (social protection, schooling, citizenship) in a spirit of solidarity.
The local French chamber of commerce (CCI France International network) is a real asset for work: networking, job offers and help to restart a career or start a business locally.
CCI France International
Chambre de commerce et d'industrie française au Canada (Montréal)
The French chamber in Canada, based in Montreal since 1886, gathers nearly 400 companies and offers events, introductions and support with settling in professionally, handy for restarting a career locally.
To follow local life in French: news, what's on, good addresses and, often, a directory of French-speaking professionals.
lepetitjournal.com Montréal
MediaIn French
The Montreal edition of the online daily for French expatriates: news, community, events calendar, classifieds and Living in Montreal sections (housing, education, health, settling in, jobs, understanding Canada), with a daily newsletter.
The edition's expat directory: listings of useful addresses and French-speaking professionals, fed by readers and advertisers.
The reference medium for newcomers to Quebec since 2011: free guides, practical sheets, immigration news, webinars, podcast and newsletter, from planning the move to settling in (housing, health, school, family). It also runs the Salon de l'immigration in Montreal.
Resource list and interactive map of the organisations that support immigrants (welcome, employment, French classes, health), by region.
'Everything you need to know to immigrate to Canada and Quebec': news, practical guides (immigrating, settling, working, studying), expat testimonials and reviews, classifieds, job offers and a very active forum where the French in Montreal have helped each other for over twenty years.
The French-speaking community of working holiday visas and expatriation to Canada: free dossiers and guides by country, forum, online talks and newsletter. Many French families in Montreal arrived this way and still find practical answers there (permits, SIN, housing, banking).
Before you even land in Montreal, Facebook groups are the best shortcut: ask your questions, find a flat, a nanny, a second-hand stroller, and often your first friends.
Groupe pour tous les résidents à Montréal et au canada:
Le groupe ouvert à tous, pour la partage et l'entre-aide entre tous les immigrants et les futurs...
Groupe adressé aux expatriés Français (étudiants ou travailleurs) vivant à Montréal.
Si les questions ne sont pas répondues lors de la demande d'accès...
Nouveau groupe Facebook pour diversifier. Tout le monde est la bienvenue pour poster a propos de soirées, évenements, informations utiles etc. Bienvenue à Montreal!
Salut les filles 🤙
Bienvenue à toutes les filles qui habitent à Montréal ! 🇨🇦
Ce groupe Facebook est dédié :
▪️ Aux voyageuses qui se trouvent à Montréal...
Bienvenue dans notre belle communauté!
Ce groupe est un lieu d'échanges entre futur(e)s et nouvelles mamans du Québec. Vous pourrez y partager votre...
Les petites annonces des expatriés Français à Montréal
15,700 members · ≈ 26 posts/week
Groupe destiné aux petites annonces que vous voulez faire auprès de la communauté Française de Montréal. Professionnels non acceptés, recrutement pour...
Bienvenue sur le groupe Les Expatriés Montréal!
Ce groupe est un espace chaleureux pour tous ceux qui vivent à Montréal, qu’ils soient nouveaux arrivants, expatriés ou Québécois curieux de découvrir d’autres cultures. Ici, vous pouvez poser vos questions, partager vos expériences et échanger sur des sujets variés : immigration, vie quotidienne, sorties sympas, rencontres amicales, activités culturelles et bien plus.
Nous organisons également des soirées conviviales et événements pour favoriser les échanges et permettre à chacun de se sentir bienvenu et intégré.
Ps : Les annonces de location d’appartement ou de colocation ne sont pas autorisées, il existe déjà de nombreuses pages dédiées à ça. De même, les ventes de produits, objets ou services ne sont pas acceptées et seront automatiquement supprimées.
Nous encourageons notre communauté à créer des événements dans la section Événements et à les partager sur notre mur : sorties sociales, spectacles, activités artistiques, sportives et plus encore!
Bienvenue, profitez et sentez-vous chez vous!
FR 👇
✨MOMTL - Mamás en MTL fue creado en 2012 y es un espacio de intercambio, red de apoyo y hermandad entre las mamás de habla hispana de la gran región...
Si tu es un expat' gourmand à Montréal et au Québec et que tu cherches...
8,600 members · ≈ 1 posts/week
Ici, nous sommes tous et toutes des gourmands ou gourmets en manque d'un ptit quelque chose bien de chez nous....un bonbon, un ptit gâteau, du chocolat,...
Compiled from Facebook's public search, links checked in July 2026. Group sizes change all the time.
AEFE network
Accredited French schools
Schools accredited by the French Ministry of Education follow the French curriculum: your child can continue their schooling seamlessly, abroad and back in France.
Source: official AEFE directory, verified June 2026. aefe.gouv.fr
Tutoring and private lessons
To support your children's schooling across two systems, two solutions designed for expat families.
Axiom Academic
Private lessons and tutoring for expat families: French curriculum, IB and British curriculum, at home or online, with teachers who know the schools in your city.
Good news: public school is in French and solid. Bill 101 actually directs most newcomers' children to the francophone network.
Good to know
Before age 5, it's daycare: subsidised CPEs are in high demand, join the waiting lists as early as possible.
Public school is free and neighbourhood-based; kindergarten starts at age 5.
The French network exists too: Collège Stanislas and Collège international Marie de France follow the French curriculum.
The calendar is local: school starts late August, long summer holidays, March break in spring.
French-speaking community
This is the largest French-speaking city in North America, and the French community is huge, from the Plateau Mont-Royal to Rosemont. You find your tribe fast.
Good to know
The Plateau and its surroundings host so many French residents it's nicknamed Montreal's "little France".
Montréal Accueil, mums' Facebook groups and neighbourhood networks ease the first months.
Integration is quick, but culture shock is real: Quebec has its own codes, different from France's.
Public family services (libraries, cultural centres, municipal activities) are accessible and affordable.
A place has closed, something has changed?
The arrival reflex
The apps to download when you land
Drop your bags, download these and you're set: the apps everyone in Montreal uses to get around, get things delivered and organise daily life.
Getting around
Transit
The go-to app for metro and bus, born in Montreal: real-time departures and the STM's official planning partner.
What mums ask when they arrive in Montreal, in short, sourced answers.
Quebec public school or French school: where do we start?
Public school is free, in French and allocated by your address (the 'école de bassin'); kindergarten starts at 4 or 5 and schooling is compulsory from 6 to 16, with a birth certificate and proof of residence to enrol. Collège Stanislas (Outremont) and Collège international Marie de France (Côte-des-Neiges) follow the French curriculum, charge fees and qualify for means-tested AEFE grants. Our School fees page compares both: /en/cities/montreal/school-fees/.
All requests go through the government registration portal (the former La Place 0-5), which allocates CPE and subsidised daycare places by desired start date, and only children already born can be registered. In subsidised care you pay the reduced contribution, under ten dollars a day in 2026; in non-subsidised care the fee is free but a tax credit refunds part of it. Register on arrival and widen your choice of neighbourhoods.
Yes if you prepare the France-Quebec agreement: before leaving, request your health insurance fund's certificate (form SE 401-Q) and attach it to each family member's registration; without it, a 3-month waiting period applies to adults, never to children under 18. Drug insurance is compulsory on top. It is all detailed on our Health page: /en/cities/montreal/health/.
Source ↗How do we find a family doctor or a paediatrician?
There is no walk-in community paediatrician: register each family member on the family doctor access portal as soon as you have the sun card, and meanwhile call 811 option 3, the front-line access desk, which gets you an appointment with a pharmacist, nurse or doctor. For a quick private consultation, the consulate publishes a medical list, reproduced on /en/cities/montreal/health/.
Source ↗Which number do I call if my child is ill at night?
911 only for a life-threatening emergency. For everything else, 811 option 1 (Info-Santé), free and open 24 hours a day: a nurse assesses the symptoms, advises on home care and directs you, with a priority line for parents of children aged 0 to 17. The two paediatric hospitals, CHU Sainte-Justine and the Montreal Children's Hospital, triage by severity, not arrival order.
Source ↗Which neighbourhood should we settle in with children?
French families choose the Plateau-Mont-Royal and Mile End, Outremont around Collège Stanislas, Côte-des-Neiges and NDG around Collège Marie de France, then Rosemont, Villeray and Verdun for gentler rents and parks on every corner. Town of Mount Royal and Westmount are the priciest options, with houses and gardens. Our Settling in page reviews the neighbourhoods: /en/cities/montreal/settling-in/.
In order: apply for the social insurance number of each adult allowed to work, register the whole family with RAMQ using the French certificate, open a bank account and get a mobile plan, enrol the children at the local school or on the daycare portal, then register with the consulate's French register, online, free and valid for 5 years. Details on /en/cities/montreal/settling-in/.
Not automatically since 21 January 2025: the partner's open work permit is reserved for partners of workers in a TEER 0 or 1 occupation, or in certain TEER 2 and 3 occupations listed by IRCC, unless the principal worker is already on a pathway to permanent residence. Check the job's NOC code before signing, and submit the applications together.
Not up to and including age 11: they travel free everywhere and at all times in the metropolitan region, accompanied by someone aged 14 or over with a validated fare (at most 5 children aged 6 to 11 per adult). From 12 to 15, a photo OPUS card gives 30 to 40% off; at 16 and 17, the reduced fare requires full-time study.
Source ↗Deposit, 12-month lease, 1 July: how does renting work in Quebec?
Security deposits are illegal: the landlord may only require the first month's rent in advance. The lease is signed on the Tribunal administratif du logement's compulsory form, usually runs from 1 July to 30 June and renews automatically; the landlord must tell you the lowest rent paid in the previous 12 months. Listings count rooms: a 4½ suits a small family.
Less than most big expat cities: subsidised daycare costs under ten dollars a day, public school is free, so is healthcare once you have the sun card, and children do not pay for transport. On the other side, rents are rising, phones, cheese and wine are markedly dearer, and the winter kit weighs on the first year. Our Settling in page details the budget: /en/cities/montreal/settling-in/.
Source ↗Where can I meet other French-speaking mums?
Montréal Accueil, hosted at the consulate, organises newcomer coffees (including a 'First Winter Coffee' in November), family outings, the sugar shack and the Christmas lunch; French mums' Facebook groups, neighbourhood parks, library story times and early-years classes at the CLSC do the rest. Our outing ideas are on /en/cities/montreal/family-outings/.
The MumExpat assistantSchools, health, paperwork, outings, city by city
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