Remembering the Games

By: Serge Dupuis

Serge Dupuis

Contributing Historian

Author of six books, and a wide variety of articles and reports, Serge Dupuis was selected as “inspiring path” by the Journées de la relève en recherche de l’ACFAS (2021). He has also won the following awards:

Canada Council for the Arts Scholarly Book Award (2024) for Une histoire du Moulin-à-Fleur de Sudbury: quartier ouvrier, territoire canadien-français, published by Ottawa University Press (2025)
The Richard-Arès Prize for Best Essay published in Quebec (2018) for Le Canada français devant la Francophonie mondiale : l’expérience du mouvement Richelieu dans la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle, published by Éditions du Septentrion (2017)
Canada Council for the Arts Scholarly Book Award (2016) for Le Canada français devant la Francophonie mondiale (2017)

Serge has taught at universities across Ontario and Quebec from 2011 to 2017, then went on to concentrate entirely on the research, writing, and popularization of history throughout diverse forms of media since 2018.

Born in Sudbury (Ontario), Serge Dupuis is a professional historian working in Quebec; he is an associate member at the Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d’expression française en Amérique du Nord (CEFAN) at the University of Laval.

Serge Dupuis has a bachelor’s degree (Laurentienne, 2007), a master’s degree (Ottawa, 2009) and a doctorat (Waterloo, 2013), then completed a postdoctoral fellowship (Laval, 2016); he received grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for his three graduate studies.

The Montreal games were covered in two ways: political journalists covering the creation of the Olympic district and sports journalists covering the events^[i]. Former minister Liza Frulla believes this parallel coverage contributed to shaping contrasting (yet complementary) perceptions of the Montreal games legacy. In a book titled Les Jeux olympiques de Montréal et nous : 50 ans, 50 regards (2026), testimonials tend to fall into either of these two categories. Some recall sporting achievements and the emergence of a new sports culture after the Games; others focus on the creation of the infrastructure and the disastrous financial consequences. Even witnesses who acknowledge the existence of the two memories of the Games tend to emphasize one of them over the other. Recollections of Isabelle Charest, a three-time medalist speed skater (1994, 1998 and 2002) and Quebec minister of state in charge of Sports, Leisure and the Outdoors (2018-2026), illustrate this trend:

Structures such as sports federations were set up to promote the organization of disciplines that have become more and more popular. The year 1976 saw the start of the modern era of sport in Quebec and Canada. During subsequent Olympic Games, Canada also began to win more and more medals: 26 in Vancouver in 2010! […] It’s deplorable to see how Quebec still has an unfavourable prejudice against our Olympic facilities. Yet they are high quality and combine several training centres that enable our athletes from Quebec and Canada to achieve excellent results at the international level^[ii].

In defending the Olympic Park, officials are often responding to a segment of the population who believe Quebec should stop funding the Stadium (which is worth $4 billion) and demolish it.

Crowds dancing in the Olympic Village. Image courtesy of *Library and Archives Canada*, 4946710.

Regardless of their allegiance, Quebec governments have recognized the importance of maintaining Olympic facilities, while noting the need to cultivate popular appeal to preserve public investments. In 2011, Jean Charest’s government appointed public intellectual Lise Bissonnette to write a report on the future of the Olympic Park. Upon consultation with the public, experts and athletes, the Bissonnette report recommended making the Park “an ecosystem of physical activity, leisure and sports at all levels for all ages” as well as a “heritage cultural landscape^[iii]”. To “retain visitors”, the report suggested the addition of “an education and recreation track combining nature, science and culture”, as well as “accommodations and quality restaurants^[iv]”. The Olympic Park could also develop better links with the neighbourhood, particularly by increasing the powers of the Régie des installations olympiques (RIO), too centred on its infrastructure responsibilities. Regarding the roof, 200 tonnes heavier than the Kevlar sail proposed by Roger Taillibert and unretractable, Bissonnette recommended staying the course of a movable roof, “in line with the building’s original design”.

Starting with the 40^th anniversary of the Games in 2016, efforts were made to highlight the memory of the Montreal Games. RIO president Michel Labrecque set several goals:

Reconciling people with the stadium;
“Honouring the taxes our grandparents and parents paid to cover the cost of the Stadium^[v]”;
Re-establishing links with Roger Taillibert (who set foot in the Stadium in 2015, four decades after being banned from the site by the RIO in 1975);
Preparing the future of the Olympic Park.

In 2017, the tower was equipped with offices, with tourist spaces at the top^[vi]. In 2020, the RIO became the Société de développement et de mise en valeur du Parc olympique (SDMVPO). Its director, Joëlle Brodeur, says she continues to manage the complex relationship between the Quebec people and the Olympic Park:

It was difficult – no one could claim the opposite was true. And that’s understandable. Despite lasting mixed feelings, there are two distinct facts: the bill for the Olympic Park was hated, but the Olympic Games were loved^[vii].

Half a century after the 1976 Games, representatives of the Olympic Park want to make Montreal “start dreaming again”. On returning from the Milan-Cortina Winter Games in February 2026, the Canadian team were welcomed in Montreal. Throughout the anniversary year, the city of Montreal funded schools, sports clubs and festivals to reconnect with the memory of the 21^st Olympiad. Organizers of the festivities seek to benefit from this to revive interest in physical activity among young people. “The underlying objective of the 50^th anniversary is to bring sports and sports infrastructure back into the spotlight,” says the general director of the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau, Véronique Doucet. “We want to show the importance of investing in sports and culture, to put it back on the agenda as a priority^[viii]”. From March 27 to September 7, 2026, Montreal’s McCord Stewart Museum is presenting an exhibition with documents, photos, uniforms and souvenirs, including many never seen by the public. “We want people to feel the pride of the Montrealers when they welcomed the world,^[ix]” explains the museum’s curator, Christian Vachon. From September 20 to 27, 2026, the city will also host the World Road Cycling Championships, in which a thousand athletes will compete in a series of events.

In many regards, Montreal seeks to cultivate the memory of the 1976 Games to inspire future generations in Quebec and Canada to excel.

^[i] Liza Frulla, in Pierre Gince, Les Jeux olympiques de Montréal et nous : 50 ans, 50 regards, Montreal, Éditions de l’Homme, 2026, p. 104.

^[ii] Isabelle Charest, in Pierre Gince, 2026, op. cit., p. 318.

^[iii] Lise Bissonnette, in Brian Myles, “Adapter le Parc olympique aux besoins actuels”, Le Devoir, December 14, 2012, p. A 1, A10.

^[iv] Lise Bissonnette, in Brian Myles, December 14, 2012, op. cit., p. A 10.

^[v] Michel Labrecque, in Pierre Gince, Les Jeux olympiques de Montréal et nous : 50 ans, 50 regards, Montreal, Éditions de l’Homme, 2026, p. 284.

^[vi] Pierre Gince, op. cit., 2026, p. 314.

^[vii] Joëlle Brodeur, in Pierre Gince, op. cit., 2026, p. 313.

^[viii] Véronique Doucet, in Marco Fortier, January 3, 2026, op. cit.

^[ix] Christian Vachon, in Jadine Ngan, “How the Olympics Remade Montreal”, Maclean’s, February 4, 2026, online. ANGLAIS ORIGINEL : We want people to feel the pride of the Montrealers when they welcomed the world