Montreal declared basketball city despite lack of courts in neigbourhoods where it's most popular

Montreal has been declared a basketball city by its own city council, and that makes sense considering it has a team in the national league, thousands of fans and three homegrown players in the NBA.

However, those three players came from the borough of Montréal-Nord where community advocates have been lamenting the lack of public sports facilities for years.

Declaring Montreal a basketball city is a good first step, but now it is time to invest in the community and ensure local kids have the resources they need to develop as athletes, said Sacha-Wilky Merazil, a community activist who is pushing to develop basketball facilities in Montréal-Nord.

"We have a lack of sports facilities in Montréal-Nord, and particularly in Montreal East," said Merazil.

"We need funding to build a sports centre."

Such a project has been discussed for some time, and still no concrete plans have been made at the municipal level.

Montréal-Nord residents spoke out earlier this year after the promised sports and recreation centre was placed on the back burner indefinitely, left out of the city's budget.

A CBC data analysis from October 2021 revealed a lack of access to sports and recreational facilities in low-income neighbourhoods in Montreal.

Merazil said east end neighbourhoods need a master plan for developing sports facilities, and the upper levels of government should be supporting such projects.

"A lot of citizens in east end Montreal feel really abandoned," he said.

On Twitter Monday, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said the municipal council unanimously adopted the motion to recognize the importance of basketball in the city.

"More than ever, Montreal is seen as a basketball city, and that's great news," she said. "Let's be proud of it!"

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