Moving Day (French: Fête du déménagement or journée nationale du déménagement) is a tradition, but not a legal requirement, in the province of Quebec, Canada, dating from the time when the province used to mandate fixed terms for leases of rental properties. It falls on July 1, which is also Canada Day.
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The tradition began as a humanitarian measure of the French colonial government of New France, who forbade seigneurs, the semi-feudal landlords of the seigneuries, from evicting their tenant farmers before the winter snows had melted.. Historian Yvon Desloges notes that it was common to move in the spring in the 18th century, citing a 1750 bylaw by Intendant François Bigot.[1]
Later, this evolved into a requirement that urban leases begin on May 1 and end on April 30. In law, this date was set in the Civil Code of Lower Canada of 1866.[2] May 1 thus became "Moving Day", the day during which renters who wished to vacate their current premises physically changed domiciles.
In 1973, the Quebec government decided that it would be better to move Moving Day to the summer, so that students would not have to move during the school year. The law repealed sections of the Civil code setting fixed terms for leases as of 1974, but mandated a two-month lengthening of leases for following year as a transitory measure.[2] However, tradition has held sway, and the vast majority of leases are still a year long and begin around July 1. In 2004, approximately 120,000 households moved on or around July 1, corresponding to 4% of the population.[3]
Moving Day is a boon and a headache for commercial moving companies, and people often must reserve their services more than six months in advance in some cases.[4] During this period, moving companies work around the clock, with moving charges often being three times the normal rate.[5] The short supply of movers in Montreal inspired entrepreneurs to offer a green moving service featuring heavy-duty bicycle trailers.[6]
In Montreal, where as of 2002[update] only 36% of residents own their home, Moving Day is particularly busy[7] and has been described as "a kind of moving madness".[8] The difficulty of moving is further complicated because, by convention, most Montreal landlords do not provide their tenants with a refrigerator or stove, meaning that tenants are forced to bring theirs with them. Also, exterior staircases leading up to second, third, or even fourth-storey apartments are common in many neighbourhoods, in part because historically this reduced the size of buildings and therefore decreased the owner's property taxes. These staircases are often narrow, curved, and metal – not ideal for nonprofessionals carrying major appliances. Cities also schedule extra garbage and recycling pickups for this period to deal with unwanted furniture and empty boxes left beside the road.[9] According to Hydro-Québec, more than 700,000 Quebec households moved in 2009, including 225,000 on the island of Montreal.[10]
The July 1 date of Moving Day also somewhat reduces the significance of Canada Day as a public holiday in Quebec, as many who might otherwise attend holiday festivities are occupied by moving. Suggestions that the move was a deliberate decision by Quebec sovereignists to discourage participation in a patriotic Canadian holiday ignore the fact that the change in date from May 1 to July 1 was the result of a bill introduced by a federalist MNA, Jérôme Choquette of the Quebec Liberal Party.[11]
Although moving day is seen as a headache for most people, Montreal-based columnist Josée Legault sees a few positive aspects in the annual festival, pointing out that July 1 occurs at the end of the school year, not two months before as is was the case before the 1970s. Bargain hunters —especially people who don't move— also enjoy the numerous garage sales occurring before moving day and the common practice of leaving behind slightly used furniture and appliances on the curb side or in the alley, in effect giving them to anyone in need.[12]
The annual ritual has also been translated in Quebec's literature, music and cinema. Gabrielle Roy's classic novel Bonheur d'occasion describes the traditional frenzy surrounding Moving Day in the working-class borough of Saint-Henri in Montreal.[13]
Quebec director Philippe Gagnon used the yearly occurrence as the setting for Premier juillet, le film, a 2004 light-hearted comedy featuring three households caught in the turmoil of Moving Day.[14]