Montreal is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Over 120 different cultural communities (as listed by the Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities) are part of our city. Moreover, the census metropolitan area of Montreal ranks third in Canada behind Toronto and Vancouver, in terms of its population born abroad. According to the 2006 census, there were 740,400 immigrants in the Montreal region, 12% of the total Canadian population born abroad. And that number is still growing.

These few figures illustrate the importance that the cultural communities represent for Montreal and the need for the municipal administration to be responsive to their needs.

COMMITMENT Provide representation for cultural communities at the mayoral and borough levels:

• Appoint a "diversity advisor" to the mayor's political office, whose role is to guide the mayor on all issues related to the cultural communities as well as policies regarding the city's diversity;

• In each borough, appoint a councillor responsible for the cultural communities and create an advisory committee to facilitate their integration.

COMMITMENT Facilitate the integration of cultural communities and visible minorities:

• Meet the objectives of the city's equal access employment program by hiring people from cultural communities and visible minorities; ensure that the city's workforce reflects the ethnic and cultural diversity of Quebec; review the assessment tests used in the hiring process accordingly;

• Set up a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral group the reflect on racial profiling, including the Montreal School Board, the Office municipal d'habitation de Montréal and the Commission des droits de la personne et de la jeunesse;

• Invest in social housing to help low-income families, of which many are newcomers, to have decent housing and a quality of life; fight against all forms of exclusion in the management of waiting lists and in the allocation of social housing.

COMMITMENT Support initiatives and programs that cater specifically to cultural communities:

• Optimize, in collaboration with its partners, the city's services to help develop entrepreneurship among newcomers and assist in their business plans;

• Recognize the contribution of Montreal's associations and community organizations that offer welcoming services, support and integration to cultural communities and visible minorities and support their funding requests;

• Improve the program that allocates sports fields in the city to various sports associations, to encourage young people to play sports, for better health.