April 4, 2025
The 2025 edition of Festival Sur Le Canal is cancelled
Music lovers in Montreal were dealt bad news today, as the beloved Festival Sur Le Canal has cancelled its 2025 edition, scheduled to take place on the second weekend of June of this year.
The festival focuses primarily on local musicians and has helped many local acts find recognition among its home town citizens as well giving its community a good and free family event along the picturesque Lachine canal. However, the current economy isn’t friendly towards the arts.
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An official statement from Festival Sur Le Canal read as follows:
It is with sadness that we must announce that the Festival sur le Canal, after 17 years of celebrating the start of the summer season alongside you, must unfortunately pause its operations. Our current funding model is not compatible with the significant increases in production costs necessary to ensure the safety and quality of this free family event, which primarily features local Montreal artists and artisans.
We are proud of everything we have achieved since our beginnings in 2008. Our mission has always been to ensure that culture is accessible to all. Our festival has become a beloved event, both for local residents and Montrealer’s, who eagerly await it every year. What makes us particularly happy is having been able to provide a major stage for many Quebec artists. That is why we are not comfortable continuing an event that, in order to cover production and safety costs, would need to reduce the fees paid to artists.
Thank you to each of you for your support and loyalty over the years. We would like to thank our partners who have supported us since the beginning and have shown exceptional loyalty, even through the challenges of the pandemic.
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We do not yet know what the future holds, but rest assured that we will continue working and seeking a solution to present an 18th edition of the Festival sur le Canal.
Hopefully things can be resolved for 2026 – and Saint-Henri and Montreal can have its festival back.
