Montreal is an island, and little in daily life reminds us of it. More than 260 kilometres of shoreline wrap around this city, and yet a Montrealer who wants to swim in the river, or simply drink a coffee within sight of moving water, has almost nowhere to go. Only three public beaches operate on the island—Jean-Doré, Verdun Beach, and Bois-de-l'Île-Bizard—and only the last two are free. These beaches are barely water passages: small, shallow, and soulless thanks to lifeguards ordered to blow their whistles at the first sign of fun. Toronto, which is geographically on a lake as opposed to a river, maintains ten supervised beaches, seven certified to the international Blue Flag standard, all ungated and free, open dawn to midnight, with unsupervised after-hours swimming blissfully permitted.
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