HAMILTON, Ont. — As the 55th Juno Awards unfold this Sunday night at the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, one glaring omission in the ceremony's storied history stands out: Montreal, Canada's second-largest city and a global hub for music, has never hosted the event. Since the Junos began in 1970, the awards celebrating the best in Canadian music have crisscrossed the country, from St. John's to Vancouver, returning multiple times to cities like Toronto, Edmonton, and Calgary. Yet, in 54 years, the spotlight has never shone on Quebec's cultural capital, highlighting a persistent divide between the province's vibrant francophone music scene and the rest of Canada's predominantly anglophone industry.
Andrés Mendoza, vice-president of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), the organization behind the Junos, expressed frustration and determination during a recent visit to Montreal. “It’s a question that’s been burning in my mind and our hearts forever,” Mendoza said. “It’s funny, when I talk to people and tell them we’ve never been to Montreal, they say, ‘What?’ They thought they must have just missed it. I think it’s something we need to do.” Mendoza, who moved to Montreal from Vancouver in the early 1990s and immersed himself in the local music scene, now works from Toronto but remains committed to bridging the gap.
The Junos' absence from Montreal underscores what many see as the “two solitudes” in Canadian culture — a term evoking the linguistic and artistic separation between Quebec and English Canada. Quebec boasts a self-sustaining music industry in French, where artists like Marie-Mai and Les Cowboys Fringants sell more albums in the province than many national acts do across the country. Conversely, anglophone stars from Toronto or Vancouver often struggle to penetrate the Quebec market. “I don’t want to talk about the two solitudes — our country has been through a lot of that,” Mendoza noted. “Personally, as somebody who has worked there in music and culture and learned French, I can say there’s a circle of people at the Junos and on the board who have been trying to get there.”
Host cities are chosen through a competitive bidding process, where local music industry leaders submit proposals backed by financial commitments from governments and tourism boards. These bids cover 15 to 25 percent of production costs, a fraction of the economic boost the event provides. Last year in Vancouver, the Junos generated a direct impact of $17.5 million, according to Mendoza. Beyond the televised ceremony, Juno Week transforms the host city into a festival hub with 40 to 50 events, including multi-artist showcases, music education initiatives through MusiCounts — which distributed over $1 million in instruments to schools — and programs honoring teachers and offering scholarships for audio engineering students.
“It’s the only place all the industry gets together: 2,500 to 3,000 industry people all having drinks, sitting down and talking,” Mendoza said. “That’s how things happen, thank god, and not in the digital space.” Despite these benefits, Montreal has yet to formally bid. “We still haven’t got a core group of people (in Quebec) saying, ‘We want you,’” Mendoza explained. “Meanwhile, there are other cities coming through each year saying ‘What are your availabilities? What’s the procedure?’ We have to deal with those while we continue to try to solve the Quebec question.”
Quebec artists have long participated in the Junos, traveling to events in places like Halifax in 2023 and Vancouver in 2022. Nominees from the province span genres from jazz to electronic music, and recent years have featured more performances by Quebec acts such as Coeur de pirate, Loud, Charlotte Cardin, and Elisapie. These appearances have sparked unexpected collaborations, like Quebec singer-songwriter Roxane Bruneau joining a group rendition of Michael Bublé’s 2005 hit “Home” at last year’s show, which inspired her French-language cover featuring Bublé himself. “It made me realize that anything is possible,” Bruneau told the Montreal Gazette.
Efforts to integrate Quebec have intensified. In 2021, CARAS hired Nathalie Corbeil, a Quebec publicist, to manage media relations for the province and translated its website, application forms, and membership materials into French. “There’s a real openness to the Quebec milieu,” Corbeil said, noting increased interest from Quebec media. That same year, Philippe Archambault, executive director of Quebec label Audiogram and vice-president of music for Quebecor, joined the Juno Awards’ board of directors. “It’s a great honour to join this pan-Canadian organization,” Archambault said. “It’s an opportunity to share the voice of the Quebec industry, which is very specific. For 40 years, we’ve had our own star system and artists.”
Archambault, who also serves on the board of l’ADISQ — Quebec’s French-language music awards — described a shift from parallel operations to collaboration. “For a long time, it was, ‘You do your gala, we do ours,’” he said. “Now, there’s no choice but to open up to one another and see what’s happening. The industry is no longer what it was. There’s less media, we’re selling less records, everyone is living the same things. It’s important to expand our horizons and reach out.” He predicted the Junos would eventually come to Montreal but emphasized it must arise organically. “It will happen,” Archambault said, “but you can’t force it. It has to happen naturally. It has to come from the right place. It has to be a group of people saying, ‘We want this.’”
Eve Paré, executive director of ADISQ, echoed support for hosting the Junos in Montreal, calling it “a nice occasion to offer visibility to artists from here.” Discussions between ADISQ and CARAS have spanned years, with Paré attending this weekend’s events in Hamilton. However, she outlined conditions: the francophone album of the year award — often dominated by Quebec acts — should air during Sunday’s televised ceremony rather than Saturday’s non-televised gala; francophone artists must perform on TV; and the broadcast should include a francophone or bilingual host. “All of which the Junos are very open to,” Paré said. The main hurdle remains funding, as public resources for culture are limited and cannot undermine ADISQ’s operations.
The City of Montreal, Tourism Montreal, and Quebec’s Ministry of Culture declined to comment when contacted by the Montreal Gazette. Industry figures like Gourmet Délice, a founding partner of Quebec music company Bonsound — home to nominees like Annie-Claude Deschênes — see potential benefits. “It would be good for Canada and Quebec,” Délice said. Yet, he noted a lack of momentum: “There’s a desire in Quebec to make a bid, which in theory is good, but it seems like everyone is waiting for something to happen. We need a spark, otherwise it will always remain a wish.”
Sabrina Cousineau, general manager at Bravo Musique, whose artist Lou-Adriane Cassidy is nominated for best francophone album, questioned government willingness to fund an English-broadcast event on CBC. “I’m not sure the Quebec government is willing to contribute financially to an event that is mainly broadcast in English on CBC,” she said. Still, she envisioned the Junos thriving in Montreal, especially amid potential government changes. Rap artist Fredz, another francophone album nominee performing Saturday, expressed pride in his Quebec roots at the national gala. “I’m very proud to be Québécois in a national gala,” he said. “The Quebec market is completely different than Canada. It feels international when I’m there. I feel both at home and far from home.” His manager, Henry-François Gelot, called the omission “a shame,” adding, “Montreal isn’t an exception in Canada. It’s a core part of the identity of Canada. The Junos should reflect what the country looks like.”
Nick Farkas, vice-president of concerts and events for Evenko — Quebec’s largest promoter, which runs festivals like Osheaga and venues including the Bell Centre — has advocated for a Montreal bid for over a decade. “I’ve been to the Junos all over Canada, and every single bloody time I’ve gone to the Junos in my entire life, I’m asked the same question at least 20 times: ‘When are the Junos coming to Montreal?’” Farkas said. “It’s going to be the best party ever. The entire industry is looking forward to it.” Logistics pose challenges, particularly scheduling the televised event at the Bell Centre just before hockey playoffs, requiring over a week of exclusive access. “Just before the hockey playoffs, that’s a big chunk of days to give up,” Farkas noted. “It’s tricky to make that work in the Bell Centre and make your team go on the road — that’s a constraint. We’ve been working with the Junos to get the days they need for pre-production down. From an arena perspective, we can do it.”
Assembling a bid committee of local stakeholders to secure government funding is the next step, Farkas said. He frames it as an opportunity to showcase Quebec artists nationally: “What’s super beneficial is putting our city, our artists in front of a Canadian audience. There are a bunch of lead-up showcases and parties for artists to play prior to the main event, with lots of opportunities to perform in front of industry, which is huge. And then there’s the national telecast.” Mendoza reinforced the need for adaptation: “It can’t be like any other Junos. We’ve got to work with the community. We have to collaborate on a deeper level because there’s such a special, nuanced, distinct culture there. There’s an expertise, a cultural savvy and history that are different and important to respect.” He has engaged with tourism officials and Quebec Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe, insisting, “We don’t want to push ourselves into Quebec. We want to be invited, and we haven’t been formally invited. I’m not going to quit until we get there.”
While the Junos have traditionally celebrated anglophone icons like Shania Twain, Nickelback, and Drake, breakthroughs by bilingual or English-singing Quebec acts like Céline Dion and Arcade Fire have paved the way. Recent inclusions signal a broader embrace, but success in Montreal hinges on local initiative. As Archambault put it, “Would I like to be part of it? It would be a great pleasure. But it has to come from many corners. There has to be a local push.” With Quebec artists increasingly gaining international traction — Fredz in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, for instance — the timing feels ripe. The event could unify a fragmented industry, offering economic, cultural, and networking gains that extend far beyond the stage.
Whether Montreal joins the list of host cities like Regina, Saskatoon, or London, Ontario, remains uncertain, but optimism prevails among insiders. “We’re so close now, with Quebec,” Mendoza said. As the Hamilton ceremony concludes, conversations in Montreal continue, waiting for that spark to ignite a bid and finally bring the Junos home.