8 some cases, spiritual needs. As such, their instrumental attachment is low, especially compared to the residents of La Petite-Patrie. Some residents expressed indiﬀerence toward their neighbourhood, as one 90-year-old English-speaking woman made clear when asked why she decided to move to the neighbourhood and stay for so many years: “I don’t know, it’s a place to live, you have to live some place!” However, some homeowners demonstrated a strong sense of attachment linked to their deep-rooted history with the neighbourhood. For example, one 74-year-old woman who bought the house she grew up in from her mother explained: “It’s just home . . . My family they all stuck around, you know I got 4 children. And I have the 2 boys living here. I am very . . . My own son with his 2 kids down the street, it’s great, it’s great!” However, compared to the Italian-origin residents, the social attachments among the English speaking Canadians were more family oriented around individual homes whereas the Italians met regularly to socialize at St-Raymond’s Parish and the bocce courts located behind St-Raymond’s Community Centre. (“Bocce” is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family that is commonly played outdoors during the summer months among the Italian communities in Montre´al.) As in La Petite-Patrie, the most common change noticed in Lower NDG was the increase in ethnic minority popula- tions (which in this case is more congruent with the census data—Table 2). Perceptions were also mixed, but several participants responded negatively toward the arrival of a medical transit house for Inuit people, as they felt the centre changed the image of the neighbourhood: “I don’t know what they are going to do. I mean they (Inuit) are laying on churches . . . Churches lawns and . . . Well just yesterday, at the bus one was sitting in the door steps . . . I mean that’s not very nice when people pass on the bus and see it, it is not very nice for people living here either . . .” (74-year-old English-speaking woman, homeowner). However, some residents, such as a 90-year-old English-speaking woman renter embraced the diversity: “Now there is everything. There’s Hindus and Jewish, but everyone gets along well.” Some of the residents also reported feeling less secure in the neighbourhood: “Put it this way, you ask me, if I feel at home on my street, yes. Ask me if I could go down to Saint-James, after 9 o’clock, no!” (74-year-old English- speaking woman, homeowner). An 85-year-old English- speaking homeowner also mentioned that the neighbour- hood is becoming less safe, that there have been a couple of recent shootings and a “person was beat up” at the top of her street. Similar to La Petite-Patrie, there were also reports of lost institutions; for example, a 74-year-old English-speaking woman regrets the loss of the church in which she was an active member for over 40 years: “I like my new church but I mean I loved my old church. That was a surprise, but I can worship anywhere. You know, it is not like I was married there, my father or mother . . . No they weren’t married there but . . . But all my kids were christened there . . ., you know, so I have a lot more attachment to that, I mean to that one.” Despite this loss, there were no collective political movements to save this important institution. Some of the English-speaking interviewees expressed frustration and felt Journal of Aging Research they did not have a political voice, especially compared to the Italian population: “It’s more diﬃcult. First of all, the older residents’ voices are all Italian, who is going to give . . . I don’t think anyone really cares. I mean politicians pretend they do for ﬁve minutes to bet whatever bills they want passed; they make it look like they really care . . . Yes, but this is silly, but I think there is a place for giving people more of a say in life rather than just being consumers” (73-year-old English-speaking woman, homeowner). Despite the generally reported deterioration of the neighbourhood, the arrival of the new community centre was unanimously viewed as a positive addition, as one 73-year-old woman owner pointed out: “Oh! It is a beautiful place.” Participants viewed the community centre as a new place to meet with their peers, “At least now we have a place to go in the winter, where we can go for 2-3 hours during the evening.” [translation] (70-year-old Italian woman, homeowner). Finally, interviewees expected important future changes with the construction of the new mega-hospital centre yet the opinions were mixed. Some consider the potential negative ramiﬁcations of the construction: “I don’t know they’ve been talking about it for the past 10 years and nothing has happened yet. They’re talking about making it (main artery running through St- Raymond) a one way street . . . . I can’t imagine that!” (90-year- old English speaking woman, renter). While others viewed the new construction in a more positive light: “I think because of the super hospital I think it has given people a boost, even though there’s been lots of complaints about what’s being done but the fact that at least there is some activity is making the place more . . . less of a forgotten area . . . Yes it is a place that will be convenient, and ah it will be ﬁne. Rather before it was a place that you hardly knew it existed, so now it is coming into its own.” (73 year-old English-speaking woman, homeowner). 6. Discussion Through this study we obtained an improved understanding of how older residents who are aging in place experience neighbourhoods that are themselves undergoing change. The results show that even when older residents remain in place, they may experience feelings of strangeness, insecurity, and social exclusion. The experiences of attachment to neighbourhood dif- fered depending on the nature of the neighbourhood and the population at hand. Instrumental (or functional) attachment was not captured by Rowles’ threefold typology, yet it was the most widely reported among both the Italians and French Canadians in La Petite-Patrie. It is not surprising that there was no reported instrumental attachment in Lower NDG since the neighbourhood is lacking in local services, which forces the residents to leave the area to meet the majority of their daily needs. Commercial and institutional deﬁciency in Lower NDG not only prevented the residents from “living” the neighbourhood, it also prohibited them from establish- ing a routine with it (Rowles’ [38, 39] physical insideness). However, with the arrival of the new mega-hospital, residents may become more instrumentally attached, as some of the residents forecast that the construction will bring new businesses and services to their “forgotten” neighbourhood.