John Abbott College (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

: ''Collège John Abbott)'' is an

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the i ...

public

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, Canada, near the western tip of the

Island of Montreal The Island of Montreal (french: Île de Montréal) is a large island in southwestern Quebec, Canada, that is the site of a number of municipalities including most of the city of Montreal and is the most populous island in Canada. It is the main ...

. John Abbott College is one of eight English public colleges in Quebec. The college primarily serves the Greater Montreal Region. The

CEGEP A CEGEP ( or ; ), also written cégep, CÉGEP and cegep, is a publicly funded college providing technical, academic, vocational or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, ...

shares grounds with McGill University's Macdonald Campus.

History

The college was accredited in 1970 and opened the next year. It is housed in early 20th-century buildings on a campus shared with

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...

's Macdonald College. The college is named after

John Abbott Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (March 12, 1821 – October 30, 1893) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the third prime minister of Canada from 1891 to 1892. He held office as the leader of the Conservative Party. Abb ...

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

, and former mayor of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

who owned a country estate in nearby Senneville. He is most remembered for his role in the Pacific Scandal, the political corruption case which brought down the government of Sir John A. Macdonald in 1873. The college originally planned to build a new campus in

Pointe-Claire Pointe-Claire (, ) is a Quebec local municipality within the Urban agglomeration of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in Canada. It is entirely developed, and land use includes residential, light manufacturing, and retail. As of the 2021 cen ...

next to Fairview Shopping Centre. It "temporarily" moved into buildings on the Macdonald College campus that had been vacated the previous year by McGill's Faculty of Education when it moved to its downtown campus. Additional temporary facilities were rented on Hymus Boulevard in Kirkland, known as the Kirkland Campus. A shuttle bus connected the two campuses. In 1973, the college decided to consolidate the college in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue by constructing a new building (subsequently named the Casgrain Centre) and renovating the existing buildings. The Kirkland Campus closed in December 1979, and the construction and renovations in Sainte-Anne were completed in 1981. It remained the last college in Quebec to be renting its campus until 2002, when it bought its buildings from the University.

still owns and operates the majority of the land on campus.

Campus

Housed in century-old renovated buildings in historic Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, the college has long been recognized as a prominent landmark in Montreal's

West Island The West Island () is the unofficial name given to the cities, towns and boroughs at the western end of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada. It is generally considered to consist of the Lakeshore municipalities of Dorval, Pointe-Cla ...

community. Characterized by tiled roofs and red brick buildings, the college is situated on the shores of Lake Saint-Louis. With its distinctive architecture, trees and rolling green lawns in a charming semi-rural setting, the college's campus has earned a reputation for being one of the most beautiful in the public system. There are a total of ten buildings on campus, all of which are connected to each other in some fashion (with the exception of Brittain Hall).

Brittain Hall

Brittain Hall houses the Continuing Education centre of the college and honours the memory of Dr. W. H. Brittain, former Vice Principal of Macdonald College. It was a men's residence until 1981. Most of the building remains closed due to severe damage caused by a fire in 1981.

Casgrain Centre

The Casgrain Centre houses the sports complex, as well as the theatre and art studios of the college, and is named in honour of

Thérèse Casgrain Marie Thérèse Casgrain, ., née Forget (10 July 1896 – 3 November 1981) was a French Canadian feminist, reformer, politician and senator. She was a leader in the fight for women's right to vote in the province of Quebec, as well as the first ...

, a Canadian senator who was an advocate for the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement. The Casgrain building also houses a café, a large student lounge, and the student

Agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order o ...

, an indoor multi-use area for hosting trade fairs, musical performances, movie screenings, exhibitions, and other student-related events and activities. John Abbott College 016

Herzberg building

The Herzberg building is the central building on campus, housing classrooms and labs for a variety of subjects. The building is also home to essential student services, such as the college

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

, the Oval

coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

, offices for various clubs, the Print Services office, as well as offices for both the

director general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

and the

academic dean Dean is a title employed in academic administrations such as colleges or universities for a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, over a specific area of concern, or both. In the United States and Canada, deans are usua ...

. Herzberg also houses the Agora, a large open space used for presentations, career fairs and some ceremonies. Other student services located in the Herzberg building include the Indigenous Student Resource Centre, Academic Advising, Counselling Services, the Student Employment Centre, Financial Assistance office, Health and Wellness Centre, the Learning Centre, Legal Advisory Services, Registrar's office, the Access Centre, Student Activities and the University and Career Information Centre. The building is named in honour of Gerhard Herzberg, a pioneering

German Canadian German Canadians (german: Deutsch-Kanadier or , ) are Canadian citizens of German ancestry or Germans who emigrated to and reside in Canada. According to the 2016 census, there are 3,322,405 Canadians with full or partial German ancestry. Some ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and

physical chemist Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mech ...

who won the

Nobel Prize for Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

in 1971.

Hochelaga building

The Hochelaga building houses classrooms for a variety of courses, including

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

, humanities,

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

psychology Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...

and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

, as well as program-specific courses for

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, natio ...

, correctional intervention, information and library technologies, and police technology programs. The building was given the native name for the city of Montreal, in honour of Canada's Indigenous people.

Penfield building

The Penfield building houses classrooms for

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

creative arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a given country, and that native speakers from that country must usually acquire through conscious learning - be this through language lessons at school ...

and

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

courses. It also houses a number of professional programs, including the

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

, engineering technologies, Paramedic care and publication design and hypermedia technology. The building houses an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, communit ...

, as well as the offices of the

Student Union A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social ...

(SUJAC) and the John Abbott College Faculty Association (JACFA). The Pedagogical Computer Centre (PCC) is located on the third floor of the building, home to labs with the necessary materials to conduct courses requiring student computer use. The building is named after Dr. Wilder Graves Penfield, a famous American-born Canadian

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

Anne-Marie Edward Science building

Opened in 2012, the Anne-Marie Edward Science Building is the location of the Science and Health Technologies departments. It is located between Herzberg and Stewart buildings. The AME building is distinctly modern when compared to the rest of the campus. By comparison, Herzberg has a total of 5 floors, including the basement, while AME has a total of 7 floors. The building contains 33 laboratories and 11 classrooms, along with over 50 staff offices. The building is solely reserved for the school's biology, biopharmaceutical, chemistry, nursing, physics, and prehospital emergency care departments. The building's name commemorates Polytechnique victim and John Abbott College alumna Anne-Marie Edward.

Stewart Hall

Stewart Hall is home to a small number of classrooms, the college

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librar ...

, the college cafeteria, as well as administrative offices and the college boardroom. The building honours the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Stewart, benefactors to Macdonald College.

Other buildings

Stewart East

Connected to the eastern side of the Stewart Apartments, Stewart East is home to classrooms for the

dental hygiene Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping one's mouth clean and free of disease and other problems (e.g. bad breath) by regular brushing of the teeth (dental hygiene) and cleaning between the teeth. It is important that oral hygiene be carried ou ...

program and the college's own dental clinic.

Jones Building

The Jones building was once accessible via the Hochelaga building. However, changes have resulted in the building only being accessible from outdoors. The second floor contains offices used by the football program.

Programs

Pre-university programs usually consist of four semesters (2 years), while career programs usually consist of six (3 years).

Students

Composition

Over 6000 students are enrolled in the Day Division and about 2100 are in the Continuing Education Division. The college primarily serves the western end of the Montreal metropolitan area, although it also has students from other parts of Quebec, the rest of Canada and approximately one hundred international students.

Stewart Apartments

The Stewart Apartments are co-educational residences for full-time students attending John Abbott College. They are the only student residences in the Montreal area that are directly operated by a public English-language college.

Student Union

The Student Union of John Abbott College (SUJAC) promotes and defends students' rights and interests
SUJAC
is the official liaison between the students and the college, representing students on committees, organizing student events, and overseeing the allocation of certain student fees for the various clubs that operate throughout the college. SUJAC works on behalf of students and informs them on relevant issues and college matters. The president of SUJAC for the 2020-2021 Academic Year is Emily Thom. The VP Internal of SUJAC this year is Théophile Bourgeois. The VP Academic is Samuel Wong. The VP External is Jonathan Sztainberg. The VP Finance is Molly Gunyon. The VP Communications is John Bedirian.

Student life

The college community offers a variety of extracurricular activities and clubs. The college operates its own radio station,
CSKY radio
', giving students the opportunity to explore the world of broadcasting. The student newspaper
Bandersnatch
' has been published biweekly since the college's establishment in 1971
John Abbott College Model United Nations Club (JACMUN)
hosts an annual

Model United Nations Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an educational simulation in which students can learn about diplomacy, international relations, and the United Nations. At a MUN conference, students work as the representative of a count ...

conference in the spring, which has been personally recognized by Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since ...

as a salient effort to promote political awareness and participation amongst youth.

Athletics

The Casgrain Sport Centre is the home to the John Abbott College Islanders and Lady Islanders who compete in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...

and hockey. The baseball team ''The Islanders'' finished second in the 2006 Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association's Northern Conference. The men's soccer team ''John Abbott College Islanders'' won the semi-finals of the 2000 provincial championship in overtime. The football team won the 2019 Bol D'Or, a thrilling win played during a snow storm. This was the program's first championship since winning the 2002 Bol D'Or. The football program has made 3 straight Bol D'Or appearances and has made it to at least the semi-finals since 2013.

Media events

* John Abbott College students and twins Catherine and Isabelle Bourassa appeared in

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

's March 1999 college edition. * In the 8th season of ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in fore ...

'', teams had to travel to the McGill portion of the campus to engage in

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

at Glenfinnan Rink. * The movie '' Satan's School for Girls'' (2000) was shot at the college. * A five-minute scene was filmed on campus for the feature film '' Bon Cop, Bad Cop'' (2006) near the Stewart Hall entrance and inside the lobby of the Herzberg building. * Most of the interior and exterior shots of the high school in the movie '' The Secret'' (2007), starring

David Duchovny David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as write ...

, were filmed on campus. * The Spike series " Blue Mountain State" was filmed on campus. * " Punisher: War Zone" filmed some pyrotechnic stunts in the Britain Hall building. *

Big Wolf on Campus ''Big Wolf on Campus'' is a Canadian television series created by Peter A. Knight and Christopher Briggs that ran from 1999 to 2002. The central plot revolves around a teenage boy named Thomas "Tommy" P. Dawkins, who was bitten by a werewolf duri ...

used outside shots of the school. *The movi
Race
2016) used outside and inside shots of the school. * Pet Sematary used outside shots of the school.

Notable alumni

* Anjali Nayar, filmmaker and journalist * Chris Milo, Canadian football player * Donovan King, actor *

Elliott Price Elliott Price is a Canadian sportscaster. He was most recently the host of the morning show of CJCL 590 in Toronto from early 2017 until January, 2019. A graduate of John Abbott College, Price started his radio career in 1982 at CJAD in Montrea ...

, radio personality and sports broadcaster * Geof Isherwood, comic book illustrator * Glen Murray, Mayor of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

Geoffrey Kelley Geoffrey Kelley (born February 17, 1955) is a Canadians, Canadian politician, coach and teacher. He was a member of National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Jacques-Cartier (provincial electoral district), Jacques-Cartier in Montreal's West ...

, politician *

Jade Hassouné Jade Hassouné (born 18 February 1991) is a Lebanese-Canadian actor, dancer and singer. He is known for his roles as Meliorn in the US television series ''Shadowhunters'' and as Prince Ahmed Al Saeed in the Canadian series '' Heartland''. Under ...

, Actor * L. P. Ladouceur, NFL football player,

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

Mark Kelley Mark Kelley is a Canadian television journalist, associated with CBC News. Formerly a correspondent and substitute anchor for '' The National'' and a host of '' CBC News: Morning'', he hosted '' Connect with Mark Kelley'' on CBC News Network fr ...

, CBC reporter *

Michael Soles Michael Soles (November 8, 1966 – July 7, 2021) was a Canadian professional football player who was a fullback in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at McGill University, where he was a two-time All-Canadian ...

, CFL fullback * René Bazinet, actor *

Rene Paredes Rene Paredes (born May 15, 1985) is a professional Canadian football placekicker for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a two-time Grey Cup champion after winning with the Stampeders in 2014 and 2018 and is a fo ...

, CFL kicker,

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...

* Ruth Taylor, poet * Sam Roberts, musician * Serban Ghenea, multi-

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

winning mixing engineer *

Steve Anthony Steve Anthony (born Stephen Anthony Gomes on 2 April 1959 in Montreal, Quebec) is a former Canadian broadcaster. He gained attention throughout Canada as a MuchMusic host, or " VJ" from May 1987 to November 1995.Frances Donald, economist Notable staff *

David Solway David Solway (born 8 December 1941) is a Canadian poet, educational theorist, travel writer and literary critic. He is a member of the Jubilate Circle and formerly a teacher of English Literature at John Abbott College. He has spent most of his ...

* Edeet Ravel * George Springate * Trevor W. Payne * Ruth Taylor * Neil Cameron

References

External links

* {{authority control Universities and colleges in Montreal Colleges in Quebec Quebec CEGEP English-language universities and colleges in Quebec Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec