THESE TWO open squares create a green oasis in central downtown Montreal. On the north side of Boulevard René-Lévesque, statues including Canada’s first French-Canadian prime minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, share the shade of Square Dorchester’s trees with a war memorial. On Place du Canada a statue of the country’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, looks out over the stately Boulevard René-Lévesque. The buildings surrounding the park are eclectic. The mix includes a Gothic church, a shiny, black bank tower and the Sun Life Building (1933), a huge stone fortress that housed the British Crown Jewels during World War II.