Montreal’s iconic Expo 67 exhibition left lasting impact
MONTREAL — It was five decades ago that Montreal welcomed the world to Expo 67, an international exhibition and iconic event that saw millions of visitors flock to the city over six months.
The event would put Montreal on the map and is remembered fondly by those who attended as drawing them into a futuristic fantasy world and opening their eyes to people and places they’d never experienced before.
Some 60 countries were part of the exhibition, which included architectural and technological marvels as part of nearly 100 pavilions that made up the 1967 International and Universal Exposition under the theme “Man and his World.”
Projecting Canadian unity: Yves Jasmin, the event’s director of advertising, information and public relations, said he believes Expo, which coincided with the country’s centennial, also had a positive national impact.
“I think it made Canadians, who are usually modest in their attestation of themselves, suddenly realize we could do something international and really get (others’) ears pricked up,” Jasmin, now 95, said in an interview.
After an opening ceremony with dignitaries on April 27, 1967, the exhibition opened to the public the following morning. Just two days later, a million visitors had already made their way through the turnstiles.
On a symbolic level, Expo 67 projected an image of Canadian unity, an international perception that remains today, said Mohamed Reda Khomsi, an urban studies professor at Université du Quebec a Montreal, who added that Quebec’s unique status is also widely understood.
The event ran until Oct. 29, counting nearly 50 million visits and exceeding the expectations of organizers. Jasmin credits the use of the Expo 67 passport — instead of tickets — which allowed people to come and go.
Among the visitors was Rick Rake, an ex-Montrealer who was just nine when Expo 67 opened. He recalled fond memories of fishing in the canals between the pavilions, eventually visiting all of them, opening his eyes to the world.
Few architectural remnants: The Expo came as somewhat of a surprise — Montreal lost out to Moscow in the initial bidding and only in 1962 did the then-Soviet capital bow out, leaving Montreal and mayor Jean Drapeau to swoop in.
After some debate about where to house the event, it was decided that man-made islands on the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and its southern suburbs would be the site.
Ile-Sainte-Helene was reshaped and made larger and Ile-Notre Dame was forged in part from rubble dug out during construction of Montreal’s subway system.
Only a handful of structures have withstood the test of time: the Biosphere, the Habitat 67 residential complex, the Casino de Montreal building and Place des Nations, which hosted the opening and closing events.
The Habitat 67 complex, designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie, is an integrated series of blocks of housing units near downtown Montreal’s waterfront, built for Expo and declared a historic site by Quebec in 2009.
The other notable remnant is the former U.S. pavilion, home to Montreal’s Biosphere museum since 1995.
The geodesic steel structure — 80 metres in diameter — was designed by American architect Richard Buckminster Fuller for Expo 67 and was one of the most visited places. The plastic covering burned away in a 1976 fire.
“But to see this ball (still standing today) when arriving on Ile-Sainte-Helene, it’s superb, even without the plastic coating,” said Roger La Roche, a retired environment professor who worked at a lunch counter during Expo near the former U.S. pavilion. “You’re able to feel what we felt inside the pavilion.”