Workshop Location

Accommodations / Hotel Information
Reservations
History of Montreal

ACCOMMODATION/HOTEL INFORMATION

AMBA 2006 has selected the InterContinental Montréal.

The moment you arrive at the InterContinental Hotel Montreal, an air of elegance surrounds you. Centrally located at the gateway of Old Montreal, this extraordinary hotel brings a level luxury to Montreal. Just a short walk across the lobby is one of the city's most historic landmarks, the Nordheimer. Completely restored, the building is blessed with an abundance of natural light flooding through carefully preserved interior light courts, richly stained woodwork, decorative ceilings, mosaic tiles and cast iron columns - all finishing touches typical of the grand buildings of the Victorian era.

The InterContinental Montreal boasts one of the city's most sought-after locations. The hotel is ideally located just minutes from Montreal's finest shopping, entertainment, cultural and financial districts. It is also within convenient walking distance to, or a short taxi drive away from, the city's most notable business and leisure attractions.

The InterContinental Montreal offers its guests a world of total comfort in its 357 richly appointed guest rooms, including 23 luxurious suites. You can also benefit from our spacious Club rooms, which include breakfast and cocktails in the executive lounge, or the Business rooms with complementary high-speed Internet access and ergonomic workspace. Each room is elegantly decorated in a sophisticated colour palette of soft greens, cream or sienna. Experience one of the 15 signature Tourelle Suites located within the hotel's dramatic turret, offering panoramic 180-degree views of the city of Montreal.

Three restaurants are located in the InterContinental Hotel Montreal. The award- winning Les Continents restaurant, the Le Cristallin lounge and victorian style bistro Chez Plume. The hotel's guests may also enjoy 24h room service during their stay.

Les Continents - Our award-winning restaurant provides a culinary experience of exceptional food, the finest wines and discreet, impeccable service. A unique, innovative menu showcases the very best of Quebec's indigenous ingredients. Ranked 4 Diamonds by CAA / AAA

Chez Plume - The casual, upbeat ambiance in our 'happening' bistro, Chez Plume, is ideal for an informal lunch, dinner or for a rendezvous with friends at happy hour. This fabulous Victorian-style bistro is also available weekends for private parties.

Le Cristallin - Le Cristallin is a delightful lobby piano bar with nightly entertainment - a warm, inviting atmosphere where one can enjoy a light lunch or a casual cocktail.

RESERVATIONS

A special conference rate of $199.00 (Canadian $) single/double occupancy for a Run of House Guest Room is available to all AMBA Workshop attendees and companions. The room rates are exclusive of the 15% federal and provincial sales tax, as well as the 3% municipal occupancy tax.

For reservations call 1-800-361-3600. To obtain the group rate, please make your reservation before Wednesday, August 9, 2006, and identify yourself as a participant of the Association of Military Banks of America (group code W0U).

Please note that reservations made after the cut-off date are subject to space and rate availability and conference rates are not guaranteed. Failure to make your reservation using the assigned group code will result in a higher rate and it will not be able to be modified at check-in or check-out.

A check or money order deposit made payable to InterContinental Montréal or a valid major credit card number by way of guarantee must accompany your reservation. Cancellations without penalty will only be accepted up to 4:00pm (local hotel time) on Sunday, September 10, 2006. No-shows will be charged for the full room revenue for the first night stay. Due to the hotel’s limited number of wheelchair accessible rooms, it is important to make your reservation no less than 14 days in advance should that type of room be required. A limited number of guest rooms are available for pre and post workshop stays so please make your reservations early.

InterContinental Montréal
360 Saint-Antoine Street West
Montréal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 3X4
Phone: (514) – 847 – 85259
Toll Free: (800) – 327 - 0200
Fax: (514) 847 – 8550
www.montréal.intercontinental.com

MONTREAL HISTORY

Pre 20th Century History

Montréal's past is a prominent and colourful chapter in the history of Canada. It accounts for a lot of the politics of Canada today. Before the French came to Québec with ideas preceding Napoleon's Empire, the Algonquin, Huron and Iroquois shared the area, not always peacefully. Jacques Cartier was the first European to set foot on the island of Montréal, but it wasn't until 1642 that a permanent European settlement was established and 'the mountain' was named Mont Royal, from which the city probably took its name. It soon became a major fur-trading post, a business the Iroquois wanted for themselves, and attacks on the colony occurred regularly until 1701 when a peace treaty was signed. With a burgeoning fur trade, Montréal became an exploration base and the commercial hub of France's North American empire, Nouvelle France. Many of the buildings from the period can still be seen in Vieux Montréal today.

However, trouble bubbled away. First the protracted French and Indian war (1754-63) marked the turning point in French influence throughout north America. This paved the way for the British to take Québec City in 1759 and before long Montréal also fell. In 1763, Canada officially became a British colony and settlers began to pour in. However, the anti-British rebellious American colonies also had designs on the territory and took Montréal. But without French-Canadian support, they were soon forced to beat a hasty retreat from both Québec City and Montréal.

Modern History

Despite the decline of Montréal as a fur-trading player, the city continued to grow and prosper as expanding shipping and rail lines turned the city into Canada's commercial and cultural centre. Much of its diversity came from central- and eastern-European immigrants looking for work, and ethnic districts continued to expand into the 20th century; there was a particularly large influx of Jewish Europeans. This trend continued after both world wars, when immigrants flowed into the city, which had developed a reputation as something of a Gomorrah, due partially to Prohibition in the USA. Despite its seedy underbelly, a middle class began to emerge as Montréal fashioned itself into a manufacturing centre.

By the early 1950s a new mayor, Jean Drapeau, was drawing up plans that would change the face of the city. Labeled a meglomaniac by critics, Drapeau nonethless succeeded in cleaning up the city, encouraging redevelopment and enhancing Montreal's international reputation with both the World's Fair in 1967 (which pulled in over 50 million visitors) and the Olympic Games in 1976. Apart from a five-year period in the early 60s, Drapeau remained a popular mayor until the mid-80s. Nonetheless, during this time Toronto had well surpassed Montréal as Canada's economic capital. This was in no small part due to the uncertainties stirred up by a growing Québec separatist movement that became a dominant political cause in the 1960s. This launched the 'Quiet Revolution' that eventually gave French Québecers more sway in industry and politics and saw the supremacy of the French language in the province.

The down side of the movement was the relocation of foreign investors to less turbulent waters. This hurt Montréal greatly, exacerbating the deep recession of the early 1990s, during which poverty was a major problem. The issue of separatism, however, failed to diminish, with referendums and the rise to political power of the separatist-leaning Parti Québecois (PQ). Montréal's residents voted firmly to stay with Canada, although the issue is no less passionate or complex today. On the back of growing high-tech industries Montréal managed to emerge from economic hardship, and modernization of the city took off again throughout the 1990s as the riverfront and Vieux Port area were redeveloped and enhanced.