Polyfamilies on TV in French Canada

TV5, Montreal

Éric Côté writes from Montreal:

This week TV5 featured, on the show Hors Série, a 26-minute episode on polyamory. Hors Série is similar to MTV’s True Life. Previous weeks featured compassionate looks at the lives of anarchists, bodybuilders, and dump diggers.

This week’s episode features three poly families living their lives in very different configurations: an MFF triad, an older MMF triad, and a more complex molecule of MMFF. These families are poster children for Québec’s polyamory community. Two are based in the Montreal area, and the older triad lives in Quebec City.

These are mature and established relationships, where the members have been together for at least five years. The older couple has been married for 32 years, and has now been in a stable V triad for the last 15 years.

The episode shows their daily lives: canoeing, gardening, playing badminton, preparing dinner, cocooning in front of the fireplace. The episode is very respectful and avoids any sensationalism or shock treatment.

That is not to say their lives are devoid of drama. One of the girls in the young triad is thinking about moving in with the others. Questions are raised. “Will we still be compatible when we move in together?” “I’ve been living on my own for the last 8 years, will I be able to go back to sharing a household?” Viewers see that through honest and open communication, most issues can be dealt with.

Although most of these families have children, the documentary is completely silent about them. (I know because I’ve met those people personally. Montreal’s polyamory community is quite small.) I guess the director didn’t want to overcrowd an already crowded episode, or was concerned about keeping the privacy of the children. (Privacy laws in Quebec are quite strict.)

You can watch the show here or here (after ads).

Also, the show's website is hosting 13 scenes that couldn’t fit in the 26 minutes of the documentary. You can select the deleted scenes at the bottom of this page:

http://hors-serie.tv/webtv/polyamoureux/

P.S.: French Canadian polys hang out at
www.polyamour-quebec.ca/forum.

The show's website lists these links of interest:
● Association Québécoise des Polyamoureux
● Tryade Info
● Polyamour Info
● Groupe de discussion Yahoo – Poly-Québec
● Irrésistible Amour
● Groupe d’intérêt Facebook / Polyamory

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