Two Montreal cafes connected to the city’s Jewish community—one targeted by pro-Palestinian boycotters after Oct. 7, and another operated by neurodivergent youth—have opened a new establishment in Hampstead.
‘Pigeon dans le Parc’ officially opened on July 3 as a full-time full operation this summer. It’s a joint venture between Café Pigeon, a popular coffeeshop with restaurants in Montreal and Toronto, and Zera Café, a catering business that employs 15 neurodivergent people headquartered in the Federation CJA building.
Five employees are currently working at the new cozy snack bar in Hampstead Park, which serves drinks as well as food prepared at the kitchen of Zera.
The initiative was motivated after the Azrieli Foundation launched its $100,000 INfinity prize contest in May 2023, whcih invited social enterprises across Canada to submit a pitch to help grow their business and create more employment opportunities for neurodivergent people.
Zera Café founder Eve Rochman, entered the contest and was shocked when she won, having not even expected to make the top three choices.
But a few months earlier, Rochman was invited to talk about Zera Café at Adath Synagogue, as part of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month. Hampstead city councillor Jack Edery was impressed with what he heard and a few days later informed her that there was an unused kiosk at Hampstead Park. Rochman initially turned down the offer—but then applied to the Azrieli contest a few months later, crediting the idea to Edery.
She immediately got to work after winning the grant, intent on opening in the summer to provide food services at the park and create more jobs for neurodivergent youth.
Rochman refers to her collaboration with Pigeon Café owner Jonathan Dresner as a “mission-oriented partnership.”
“We both feel strongly about the importance of inclusion and breaking down stigmas about people who are neurodivergent,” said Rochman.
After getting the call from Rochman, Dresner was eager to participate: “It was a very good thing to be a part of. It’s not for profit so we are putting in a lot of time and donating a lot as well. Our team is contributing and it’s for a good cause.”
Boycotts and antisemitic attacks have also been part of life at Pigeon Café ever since Oct. 7.
“We’ve had swastikas written on our menus and ‘Free Palestine’ written on our plates in the store,” said Dresner. “We get extra support from people when this happens but then we also lose people because of boycotts, but that’s business and you just do the best that you can.”
Dresner is not concerned about similar issues occurring at the new location in the park, even though it has a similar name.
“I really just ignore it and hope and believe that if I continue to do good and the best that I can that those things will eventually pass. I’m not going to stop being Jewish and I didn’t do this because I’m Jewish either.”
Hampstead mayor Jeremy Levi, who attended the opening, recently drew attention to petitions calling for boycotts against restaurants owned by those who support Israel. Pigeon Café is listed on the post, but Mayor Levi is not worried about it affecting the new location in Hampstead, having observed the success of its opening event.
“This space has been empty over the years. Places have opened up for the summer to accommodate people in the park and the pool and they never came back because it wasn’t profitable. So the council was trying to find something beneficial for the community to open up and it didn’t cost them anything to rent the space out for free.”
Meanwhile, another non-profit group for neurodivergent youth in Montreal’s Jewish community for neurodivergent youth, Friendship Circle, announced in June that it would be opening a chocolate factory as an extension of its DeLaMie Bakery.
“We employ individuals with special needs. Since day one, the goal was for it to be a regular bakery. People in this community are just as able as anyone else to learn new skills and deliver excellent quality.” said operations director Rafael Paris.
“The chocolate factory is a new initiative that will bring a smile to everybody’s faces.”
