The truly Canadian thing to do is help your neighbours move.
Hold your own parade. You just need some red and white clothes or, if you want the full Montreal experience, construction-cone orange and white. Obviously you’re going to need music. You can go the pots and pans route if you don’t like your neighbours, but clapping hands and using your voices are a better idea. Sing some Canadian tunes a capella, like If I Had a Million Dollars, Never Surrender, Home for a Rest, Barrett’s Privateers and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Call out encouragement to everyone you see who is moving a fridge on twisting Montreal stairs or picking up orphaned furniture from the curb. The truly Canadian thing to do is stop to help them. And say you’re sorry even if you don’t drop a box on their foot.
There will be other Canada Day events in Montreal on July 1. The festivities in Old Montreal, funded by the federal government, will begin with a 21-gun salute at 1:30 p.m. in front of the Old Port clock tower. Activities will be held throughout the day and will culminate with fireworks at 10 p.m.