{"id":535042,"date":"2026-03-14T03:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T03:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/535042\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T03:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T03:06:14","slug":"quebecs-first-sovereigntist-themed-coffee-shop-opens-in-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/535042\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec’s first sovereigntist-themed coffee shop opens in Montreal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Club Pays \u2014 the first-ever sovereigntist-themed coffee shop in Quebec \u2014 opened its doors in Montreal\u2019s Plaza St-Hubert on Friday.<\/p>\n

The caf\u00e9 is run by OUI Qu\u00e9bec, a non-partisan and citizen-led group that advocates for Quebec\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

From \u201cQu\u00e9becanos\u201d to \u201cbisc-oui-ts,\u201d the caf\u00e9 serves snacks and beverages, including alcohol. The space also hosts events and live performances to highlight local Quebec artists.<\/p>\n

\"\"Club Pays, Quebec\u2019s first sovereigntist caf\u00e9 opened in Montreal on Friday, March. 13, 2026. (Emily Pasquarelli, CityNews)<\/p>\n

Camille Goyette-Gingras, president of OUI Qu\u00e9bec, said Club Pays is more than a sovereigntist movement \u2013 it\u2019s a community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis space is a space to create human connections, to think about the long-term future of Quebec, to create solutions that are going to answer the long-term perspectives and the problems that the citizens live right now,\u201d said Goyette-Gingras.<\/p>\n

OUI Qu\u00e9bec said individuals from all walks of life are welcome to visit the caf\u00e9 \u2014 whether it\u2019s to learn or have open discourse about Quebec independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw there was a vox-pop done on the street about Club Pays, and people from immigrant backgrounds said basically, \u2018well, if the coffee is good, why not?,\u2019\u201d said Goyette-Gingras.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Goyette-Gingras said Club Pays is all about: taking the intensity off the discussion about immigrants and repairing their trust, moving further away from the social divides sometimes caused by politics, like the debates at the National Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course the French language is at the center of our identity and our culture, but it doesn\u2019t mean that English is not relevant. [\u2026] Everyone is relevant in the movement and everyone should be apart of it too,\u201d said Aymeric Lalonde, a 19-year-old youth coordinator of OUI Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n

\"\"Club Pays, Quebec\u2019s first sovereigntist caf\u00e9 opened in Montreal on Friday, March. 13, 2026. (Emily Pasquarelli, CityNews)<\/p>\n

Lalonde said he\u2019s been a part of the Quebec independence group since he was 16 years old \u2014 and he\u2019s not the youngest in the sovereigntist movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite nice to see so many young people. Most people say, \u2018oh, they\u2019re not educated, they\u2019re not interested in politics or anything.\u2019 But that\u2019s not true. When you come to our events, you have people that are 14 and you have people that are 78 years old,\u201d said Lalonde.<\/p>\n

Vice Benoit, a first-time customer at Club Pays, said he appreciates OUI Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s non-partisan approach to the sovereigntist movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very nice way to get introduced to the subject and kind of demystify it and remove some of the stereotypes about this,\u201d said Benoit.<\/p>\n

Mike Tricco, a visitor from Newfoundland, Alberta, said Club Pays is great for Quebecers. However, if Quebec \u201cleft the country it would be terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlberta wants to leave the country \u2013 then there\u2019s no more country. I love Canada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite Club Pays only being open for a day, the caf\u00e9 is getting busier. Club Pays\u2019 proceeds go to OUI Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Club Pays \u2014 the first-ever sovereigntist-themed coffee shop in Quebec \u2014 opened its doors in Montreal\u2019s Plaza St-Hubert…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-535042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}