Our roots are in insurance In 1898, Henri Marcil opened his brokerage firm on St. James Street in Montreal. Six years later, he launched La Foncière, Compagnie d’Assurances, whose mission was to provide insurance to individuals and businesses. In 1929, Arcade Racine, employed by the Equitable Insurance Company, met Henri Marcil, whose business was thriving. The two became partners and Arcade Racine began promoting the activities of the new firm, then located at 70 St. James Street, the current site of Montreal’s Palais de Justice. At the time, most of the city’s insurers had their offices in the Insurance Exchange building on St. James Street. The construction of the new Palais de Justice forced the company to move in 1963. It then set up shop at 1501 Everett Street, where it served its clients for nearly 40 years. In the 1960s, Arcade Racine joined forces with Jean-Paul Chamberland, and the firm began doing business under the name Racine & Chamberland. Recently, the company moved to a new building located at 4001 Crémazie Blvd. East, where it continues to do business with pride and zest.