Brownstein: Montreal guides’ permits help ensure city tours are factual, not fictional

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Did you know Montreal’s Cadillac St. was so dubbed in honour of a local car buff and designer called Cadillac who went to Detroit to create the luxury auto bearing his name?

This was but one of the alleged factoids travellers to Montreal gleaned from a city tour some years back. This born-and-bred Montrealer went along for the ride in the hopes of learning even more about his sacred island home.

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The tour turned out to be more hysterical than historical, with fountains of wild misinformation being spouted, from Benjamin Franklin flying kites high over the mountain to mega-rock stars flying high — without a plane — on said mountain.

As for the inspiring Cadillac story, it’s close on one level. It turns out the street was named well before the invention of the car, in tribute to one Antoine de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, a French explorer who is actually credited with founding Detroit and ruling over the fiefdom, later to be known as Motor City, from 1701 to 1710. The explorer Cadillac spent time in Montreal, and the Cadillac métro station and the street were named for him, as was — yes — the legendary finned auto.

Memories of this faux Cadillac story spring to mind with the news the city is again mulling over the prospect of lifting permit requirements for tour guides. That could mean guides might well take their own paths in uncovering Montreal’s past and discoursing on its present, in a manner more fictional than factual.

Montreal is one of the very few cities in North America that require tour guides to pass a course before being officially licensed. Prospective guides must undergo an extensive 240-hour course at the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ), which costs $2,000. There’s also an annual $120 permit fee. (In some other cities, including New York, tour guides have to pass a test but aren’t required to take a course.)

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Price notwithstanding, Montreal’s permit requirement system is not without its merits. But in light of what’s at stake in promoting tourism and dispensing accurate information to travellers, the city should consider subsidizing tuition costs for those who find the fees are beyond their reach. It would be worth the expense in the long term.

The city is apparently in consultation with tour agencies, guides and the ITHQ before it renders a final decision on permits.

Thom Seivewright, a licensed Montreal tour guide for the last eight years, is a strong proponent of keeping the permit requirements in place.

“There are close to 200 certified tour guides in the city, and we’ve put a lot of time and effort in getting that certification. The city is pretty happy to take my 120 bucks every year to renew my permit. They were also very happy to have me pay $2,000 for the tourism course fees,” Seivewright says during a tour break.

“But now even with all these regulations in place, it’s becoming like a free market, with a lot of people putting up their tours on platforms and telling tourists anything they feel like telling them. But where’s the beef here? Tourists are getting no guarantee of any kind of quality tours or correct information.”

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Seivewright doesn’t feel it’s fair for the city to expect guides to follow the procedure for attaining permits while turning a blind eye to upstarts in the trade.

“They put us through the wringer, but they don’t stop these illegal guides,” he says. “For as long as I’ve been a guide, the city has been considering removing permit requirements. Right now, it seems obvious that a move is being made, because it’s come back in the news.

“There is a tour-guide association, of which I’m part, and it’s trying to put pressure on the city that if we require licences, it should at least police the rules for the others.”

A Montreal native, Seivewright conducts his tours mostly for tourists — primarily Americans — as well as for curious locals, in English and French, for individuals and small groups. The walking or biking tours range from one to three hours.

His business has picked up significantly in the past couple of years, but he and other guides took a big hit during COVID.

Seivewright is under no illusions about shortcomings here on Cone-y Island, but he also sees green where others see only orange. He showcases the city’s plethora of green alleyways — “oases in the heart of the city” — as well as our unique architecture and outdoor spiral staircases.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t love this place. There’s a lot of Montreal that is so underappreciated. It’s more than our food and culture. Tourists — who know nothing about our politics or taxes — are really charmed by the city. We complain — and we probably should — but when we take a step back and look at the city from an outsider’s point of view, we should realize how good we have it here.

“Tour guides don’t have to invent stories about this city. There’s enough interesting stuff about Montreal to tell the truth.”

For information about Thom Seivewright’s tours, visit toursmontreal.com.

bbrownstein@postmedia.com

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