The concept of a garden city was originally introduced to Canada in 1905 by American landscape architect Frederick G. Todd and brought to Pointe-Claire that same year. As you can read on the Pointe-Claire website, the garden city concept combines the needs and advantages of urban life with the benefits of a rural environment. 

From the website: 

“Under the direction of Mr. Todd, the Canadian Nursery Company began developing a site west of Cedar Avenue in 1905. The project, named the Bowling Green, was a scale model of a garden city, with houses of a similar style arranged in an orderly way around a central park [...] Its popularity increasing thanks to the beauty and cleanliness of the area as well as its quiet neighbourhoods, the City of Pointe-Claire became a vital part of the Montréal landscape for residents and vacationers alike.” 

This is exactly what brings me to writing this piece: the concept of beauty! 

As you might know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, a saying coined in English by Irish author Margaret Wolfe Hungerford in her 1878 novel Molly Bawn.” Similarly, centuries earlier, in his work of “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” William Shakespeare wrote that “beauty is bought by judgement of the eye.”

What is beauty? Who sees it, and what does it mean? Does everyone see beauty, or just a few? Who defines it, and with what? Is beauty a figment of your imagination, or do you see it every day in real life? Does it include colours and shapes, or is it simply a result of mathematics? Does beauty make you feel good?

Yes, of course, beauty exists and it is everywhere! To get back to real life, and to end our literary dreams, let me tell you that every time I turn the corner of Lakeshore and Cartier, I cannot get over the fact that the so-called park is looking very sad – the opposite of beauty.

There are portable washrooms, not at all concealed from view and requiring the navigation of several steps, as well as cement barriers between the street and the green space. No other park in the West Island has these. Trust me, I have travelled all over the place, and I can tell you that LaSalle, Lachine, Dorval, and Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue have parks that are very beautiful without any barriers to hold anyone back.

It does not take a lot of money or energy to create a truly pleasant green space in this corner of Pointe-Claire, however small it may be. Small can be beautiful; small is more often better. What is required is the will to do it. If money is a concern, there are countless ways to make a small space beautiful at a low cost. Ask your citizens. It could be a spectacular, charming little park.  Beauty can be found in the smallest of details.

Petra Hartweg came to Pointe-Claire 34 years ago after moving here from Germany. She is an interpreter/translator working at the Alexander Von Humboldt German International School. She loves literature, gardening, politics, and sewing.