Student transgressions and proximity conflicts in Montreal’s Milton-Parc
The Montreal neighbourhood of Milton-Parc, sometimes referred to as the “McGill Ghetto,” is often associated with a divide between two populations that coexist in the same space while interacting little: there is the Milton-Parc of the local residents, composed of households that have been vested in the area for a long time, and there is the Milton-Parc of the students, continuously renewed by successions of student cohorts. This article draws on observations and interviews conducted in the neighbourhood in 2019. As regards conflicts of proximity caused by transgressive student behaviour (in particular, excessive partying and the accumulation and improper sorting of household waste), we posit that the de facto social norms are characterized by a relative tolerance of student transgressions. This tolerance is based on the moral representations of the neighbourhood as a student zone and, hence, as accepting of the lifestyles of the student population. In other words, although some local residents take recourse to the law when faced with student transgressions, the McGill Ghetto is, overall, characterized by a relative tolerance and its attendant social norms for the practices inherent to “student culture” or “youth,” at times even eliciting generational projections among the local residents.