The crumbling buildings on Corossol Island on the north coast will disappear in the coming weeks and only the lighthouse will be spared from demolition in 2020.
In a few weeks, there will be no trace of the Watcher’s House and the Mistscreamer’s lair on the island of Corossol. The owner of the premises, the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations of Canada, believes they are dilapidated and at risk of collapse.
They will be demolished, as will four other buildings on the island deemed dangerous, at a cost of more than $1 million in 2020 and 2021.
“It makes no sense. All the money is spent. And no money to keep. This is completely incomprehensible to me.” Louis Galienne, great-grandson and son of a lighthouse keeper on the island of Corossol, laments the lack of value and attention given to these remains.
“I lived there from the age of 17 until I was five.” It makes him sad to see how, year after year, the last traces of a not-so-distant past disappear.
“The buildings are cut into pieces and packed into bags that are transported by helicopter. Hence the high bill,” he said.
“I personally feel like our family history is falling apart under a helicopter and no one is reacting to preserve any of it.”
The Ministry of Crown-Indigenous Relations does not currently plan to demolish the lighthouse, but it is not subject to a maintenance program. So if it threatens to collapse, it risks suffering the same fate as the other buildings on the island disappeared in 2020 and 2021.
“We have a story behind it,” emphasized Louis Galienne. Not just me and my family, but also the region. The lighthouse has been there for months. What about it? “What is Canadian Heritage doing with it?” he asked.
After a review, no building on the island received a heritage designation. However, in order to preserve at least some traces of the presence of lighthouse keepers, the federal government had a three-dimensional photograph taken of the buildings before their demolition.