Place de la Paix sits on Saint-Laurent Boulevard across from the Monument-National and the Société des arts technologiques, a granite square framed by trees that doubles as one of the city's most animated public stages. Inaugurated in 1994 and conceived in the spirit of Montreal's 1986 Nuclear Free Zone declaration, the space hosts open-air film screenings, live performances, and community gatherings across the warmer months. It is also the only public square in Montreal where skateboarding is formally permitted, a status the park earned in 2015 after years of advocacy from the local skate community.

Open at all hours and governed by boulevard rather than park by-laws, Place de la Paix occupies a particular niche: civic infrastructure, cultural venue, and gathering point for a population that has always found its way here regardless of official encouragement.