Your Next Overseas Mission Trip: Montreal

Montreal is known as one of the most international cities in the world. From jazz festivals to Cirque du Soleil to the infamous poutine, there’s a lot to discover in Montreal. There’s even an underground city so you can avoid the incredible cold in the winter and take shortcuts to your favorite spots. One other thing happening below the surface: Montreal is home to 11 unreached people groups from our UPG Priority Matrix (a tool that lists the most unreached people groups in North America). In Montreal, there are seven Muslim groups, one Jewish group, one Sikh group, and two Hindu groups. 

Arab Unreached People Groups of Montreal

At the top of the priority list for Montreal are Tunisian, Moroccan, and Algerian Arabs. Montreal is the main place in North America to find these significantly unreached groups. This is, due to the common French language spoken in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and Montreal. Montreal is home to the largest and most unreached populations of Tunisians, Algerians and Moroccans in North America. Unfortunately, there are no known churches among them and little to no cross-cultural ministry engagement. There are over 17,000 Tunisian Arabs, 70,000 Moroccan Arabs, and 50,000 Algerian Arab Muslims in Greater Montreal, and the largest  concentration is in the Little Maghreb neighborhood.

One Large Neighborhood of Unreached People Groups

In fact, 7 of the 11most significant UPG’s in Montreal have a concentration in the borough of Villeray-St. Michel-Parc Extension. So if you’re interested in living cross-culturally, that’s a great place to do it! Most of these groups are Muslim. The vast majority are Arabs but there are Turks, Afghans, Bangladeshis, and Pakistanis concentrated there.as well. Those groups are also pretty likely to be in the same boat as the Arabs–almost no relevant churches available for them and little to no ministry engagement. 

Other Groups of Montreal

Outside of the Muslim groups, Montreal is home to the largest population of Moroccan Jews in North America. This group of 10,000 is mostly concentrated in the Hampstead area. 

There are over 25,000 Hindus also concentrated in Parc Extension and Dollard-Des Ormeaux. They both come from India, but primarily speak two different languages–Hindi and Gujarati. Punjabi Sikhs also call this area home. 

What’s Your Role?

One of the most unique things about Montreal is the number of UPG’s that are concentrated in the same area. This means that cross-cultural missionaries could easily strategize and work together, even if they felt called to work among different ethnic or religious groups. Montreal is home to 11 unreached people groups who are desperately in need of the gospel. Maybe your church wants to adopt one of them? Maybe you want to partner with churches that are reaching out in Montreal. There are so many opportunities. As Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”