The Canada Day Committee for the Deux-Montagnes MRC is extremely pleased to announce that our honorary president for the 2025 celebration is Deux-Montagnes City Councillor and 12-year Observer on the Canada Day Committee, Mr. Michel Mendes. Michel is retiring from politics this November, and the Committee cannot think of a better time to celebrate Michel’s contribution to Deux-Montagnes, to community life and to our traditional Canada Day celebration.
Born in Longueuil in 1955, Michel did move around in his early years, including going to high school in Sault Ste-Marie, Ontario, before settling down in St-Hubert on Montreal’s South Shore. Michel holds a degree in business administration from Concordia University. He married the love of his life, Carmen in 1981.
When his long-time employer, Tennant, moved their offices to Laval in 1990, Michel and Carmen found a cute little town nearby called Deux-Montagnes, where they settled and raised their three children. As many parents do, Michel volunteered his time with soccer and basketball, and served on the board of directors of both Sauvé School and l’Académie Lafontaine. But it wasn’t until Michel followed his neighbour into politics, that he began contributing in a larger way to our community. Running with his close friend, now Mayor Denis Martin, Michel won his first of three mandates as City Councillor for the Du Côteau District in 2013.
As an elected official, Michel is proud of how he has contributed to Deux-Montagnes, particularly given the tremendous change that the city is experiencing. He has led many initiatives through his involvement with the Corporation des boisés et des parcs naturels de Deux-Montagnes, the Comité de la famille, the Comité consultatif d’urbanisme, the Comité de la Circulation among others. Michel is particularly proud of this initiative to incorporate a walkway on the town’s bicycle path. The Fête du voisinage in June, the Family Picnic in August and the Family Arts and Crafts event in November are all going strong in part because of Michel’s devotion to his community. Mayor Martin was recently quoted as saying that Michel always put the citizen at the center of discussions on City Council, which was the reason for his success in the community.
In late 2013, Mayor Martin initiated a policy of placing city councillors as observers with key community organizations, and thus Michel Mendes began his relationship with the Canada Day Committee. 2025 marks Michel’s 12th and final Canada Day as an observer, and through out these 12 years, our traditional celebration, a signature event for Deux-Montagnes and for Montreal’s North Shore, has grown tremendously. Michel has been an absolute champion for Canada Day, supporting our efforts to increase funding and to gain additional technical and logistical support from the different municipal services. The bond between the City of Deux-Montagnes and our Committee has never been stronger, and Michel, with the support of Denis and the Council, has been the catalyst for this.
To add, Michel has always pitched in as a volunteer for setting up on June 30th, for tearing-down on July 2nd, for flipping burgers in the kitchen to driving kids around on the train. We are certainly hopeful that Michel will continue on as a volunteer after the end of his political career.
Michel fully retired from Tennant in 2023 and now is retiring from politics. He and Carmen have built a home in Mirabel on a family property, where he will get to enjoy his retirement at end of his city councillor mandate in November. We hope to see Michel again here at the field for future Canada Days, but the Committee extends a huge debt of gratitude to Michel for his outstanding contribution to our community and to our traditional celebration.