1

Don't know about in Montreal, but in my city there is a free newspaper called "FYI". It is mainly directed at seniors 50+ but there are travel companies advertising tours by bus to different areas in the east.

Maybe Montreal has something like that too.

2

There are a lot of woods in Canada, too, especially Newfoundland! You don't need to be in a suburb to not be downtown Montreal. Well, it all depends on how "suburban" you want your neighbourhood to be. I always recommend visitors to stay in the Plateau or the adjacent neighbourhoods of Mile-End and Outremont as those are the areas with the best shops, restaurants, cafés, etc. However, if you are requesting a suburb then perhaps it still might be too busy for you. The metro goes to the suburbs of Laval (north of the city) and Longueuil, south of the city. I know some people that enjoyed living in St-Lambert (part of Longueuil), which also has a largeish English population, if that matters...The western suburbs ("West Island" and beyond) also have a large English population and are served by commuter rail but not the metro. Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue on the western tip of the Island of Montreal has a campus of McGill University and is very pretty. Sorry I can't help with anything else.