Journal of Aging Research participants expressed complex and deep-rooted attachment that went beyond the instrumental attachment to the neighbourhood. For example, the woman who was forced out of the neighbourhood because of a housing takeover continued to return frequently to shop in familiar stores. Other French Canadians felt attachment to La Petite-Patrie that went beyond having shops nearby; the attachment to their immediate environment became more evident as they expressed feeling threatened and uncomfortable with the arrival of new ethnic minorities. For both populations, the perception of changes varied considerably among interviewees. Some participants per- ceived only very few changes, if any, while others perceived several. People living in social housing complexes or in older residents’ apartment complexes generally perceived little change in the neighbourhood; many people living in these residences often only described the change in their individual residence. Moreover, the changes reported by participants focused on the immediate environs (one’s neighbours, one’s street, or at most a few surrounding streets). The most common change noticed was a perception of increasing ethnoracial diversity (which, as we saw in Table 2, is not supported by census data). Reactions to this varied from frank expressions of unease—a sense of strangeness in once-familiar public spaces which led some people not to frequent them any more—to discourses avowing tolerance and even a cosmopolitan mentality. For instance, one 79- year-old French-speaking woman stated, “You have to go to McDonald’s to see this. We don’t feel at home, it’s full of immigrants. I know. I don’t understand how they let that many into the country! I just don’t know” [translation]. An 85- year-old French-Canadian woman said she felt “invaded,” “It’s too crowded now (St-Hubert Street), and you hear all diﬀerent languages. We ask ourselves where we are. I don’t like it. They are invading us! I am scared that in 10 years, what other languages are we going to hear? They are going to take everything from us . . . all the businesses; it’s them who are running them” [translation]. French Canadian interviewees also reported that local churches were increasingly being “taken over” by the Haitian population. Some told us they attend church much less often because they feel out of place, “I’m the only white face in the room” [translation], an 82-year- old woman reported. In contrast, a man of Italian descent viewed this newfound diversity positively, “it helps to know new people, other cultures, to reduce prejudice, because we are all alike!” [translation]. Several interviewees reported that real estate values and rents had increased substantially in recent years. Several also pointed out the spread of condominiums, some referring to the transformation of a local church into quite luxurious condominiums. Despite the documented increase in the number of residents with university degrees, very few study participants noted the arrival of a younger, better educated and wealthier population to the neighbourhood, with the exception of one 76-year-old French-speaking woman who welcomes the arrival of more “reﬁned people” [translation]. While some owners appreciated the increased value of their homes, others saw the recent developments as negative because they did not meet the needs of families 7 and low-income residents of the neighbourhood. An Italian- speaking owner noted that the neighbourhood has become prohibitively expensive, preventing members of his family to settle there. As for the business changes, the positions were also very diverse. Some participants harshly critiqued the changes to two major commercial streets in the neighbourhood, notably St-Hubert Street where the variety of its stores had been lost and the new shops did not meet the needs of the older neighbourhood residents: “All the stores we liked, they are all gone. They were all replaced by fabric stores, prom dresses, wedding boutiques . . . . “It is not at my age that I’ll buy that!” [translation] (71-year-old French-Canadian woman, renter). As for commercial shift of St-Lawrence Boulevard and the renovation of the Jean-Talon market, many appreciated the changes and the arrival of new businesses: “there’s a lot of progress in Little Italy, in shops, restaurants . . . Many people are coming” [translation] (71-year-old Italian man, homeowner). However, few say they regularly attend the new restaurants and cafe´s, preferring familiar places. Others lament the increased traﬃc in Little Italy and higher market prices that have forced them to do their shopping elsewhere. One 91-year-old Italian man (home owner) described his ambivalence about the changes: “The Jean-Talon market used to be more traditional, now it has become very commercial, there are too many people, in the summer we can’t go Fridays, Thursday evenings, and Saturday afternoon, there are just too many people! The market is working well, so for us; it is a good thing because the houses have doubled in value! To buy a home here, if I wanted to sell my house, they are going to pay!” [translation]. A neighbourhood change that negatively aﬀected a num- ber of the French-Canadian residents was the disappearance of the Golden Age Clubs and bingos: “Ah! It shocked me because it was the only fun we had. You know old people are not interested in going to bars to drink, I do not drink. That was the only place we had to go. So since it closed: “Stay home!” So we stay at home . . . It’s as if for older residents, we’re just too old, they are just waiting for us to die!” [translation] (71-year-old French-Canadian woman, renter). In recent years, three clubs catering to French-Canadians have closed their doors, while the Italian-speaking club continues to operate. According to two key informants, these closures are related to lack of leadership in the clubs, deﬁcient ﬁnancial support from the municipal borough, and to their declining popularity, especially as the aging population of the neighbourhood decreases. In this sense, the closure may be linked to the gentriﬁcation with the arrival of a younger and more educated population. 5.2. Lower NDG. The two main populations residing in Lower NDG are the Italian-Canadians, of whom those in our sample are all homeowners, and the English-speaking Canadians, of whom those we interviewed are both home owners and renters (Table 1). The scarcity of businesses in Lower NDG, especially in the St-Raymond sector, forces its residents to leave the neighbourhood regularly and frequently to meet most of their consumer, social, and in