In light of the delay in a number of dossiers on legal protection for elements of Quebec’s heritage, the minister responsible, Mathieu Lacombe, carried out a collective classification on Tuesday while promising that his ministry would now move more quickly.
The Ministry of Culture and Communication (MCC) had 81 files with “conformity”. In many cases the waiting time was measured in decades.
Minister Lacombe signed legal notices for “36 new elements of cultural heritage”, but among them are several “events” or historical “figures” that refer to intangible elements rather than property in the strict sense.
More than twenty years of waiting
Among the properties reclassified by the Minister of Culture and Communications, it is difficult to explain why the Domaine du Petit Cap, an exceptional building whose construction dates back to 1777, is still not subject to protection. Planted in the middle of the landscape of Cap Tourmente and equipped with a chapel, the place belongs to the Séminaire de Québec. According to the documents seen by Le Devoir, the classification file was filed since March 23, 2000. It therefore took more than two decades for the MCC to grant legal protection to this unprecedented 18th-century site.
In the case of the old winter prison at Sherbrooke, which was built entirely of stone, an initial classification file was submitted to the Ministry in 1990. The classification was ultimately carried out by the state of Quebec.
The MCC has committed to processing classification requests “more carefully” “so that the resulting decisions are made transparently public to the individuals and organizations affected”. How does he want to achieve that? In an interview with Le Devoir, Minister Lacombe reiterated that the ministry now has criteria and “a rigorous method”.
Are these significant delays due to a lack of heritage staff? “I don’t think it’s due to a lack of resources from the ministry. […] Do we have enough people? The answer is yes. The proof has been provided. » According to the minister, the very long delays in processing the files are partly explained by “political reasons”. At a press conference and in an interview, the minister reiterated that “certain governments, certain ministers” refused to subject themselves to the pressure that comes with making decisions. This led to decisions being postponed.
Cathedral, church, townhouse, covered bridge…
In Montreal, the site of the former Hôtel-Dieu Hospital has been the subject of a classification proposal since 2018, a year after its official, long-planned closure. Its status has just been confirmed by the minister, who also protects the site’s chapel, built in 1859. In Montreal, the Mont Saint Louis College, founded in 1888, also benefits from the state’s attention.
In Laval, the Saint-Maurice-Duvernay church and its properties are now protected by law. This is the only modern building affected by this mass classification. Designed by the imaginative architect Roger D’Astous, this church notably houses a stained glass window by the artist Jean-Paul Mousseau.
Among the objects that can benefit from the “support” of the MCC are, in Bas-Saint-Laurent, more precisely in Rimouski, several elements of the Saint-Germain Cathedral designed by the architect Victor Bourgeau: paintings, tabernacles, ciborium as well as the building shell itself .The building, one of the jewels of the region, has been closed to the public since 2014. Until last summer, the public was even kept out by a fence. The future remains unclear as extensive work is required.
In Estrie, the Province Hill covered wooden bridge, an exceptional structure built in 1896 and decommissioned in 1967, is protected. It is one of the rare covered bridges of this quality still existing in Quebec. The more modest, all-white wayside cross on the Chemin du Bassin between Cookshire-Eaton and East Angus is also listed. It was maintained throughout most of the 20th century by the families of neighboring creditors, including that of farmer Conrad Vermette.
In Outaouais, the estate of the patriot Louis-Joseph Papineau, an important figure in the history of Quebec and Canada, is under state protection. The tribune, famous for his role in the revolutions of 1837–1838 and for his opposition to the Canadian confederal project of 1867, died in 1871. He is the grandfather of the founder of Le Devoir Henri Bourassa.
The future generations
The owners of all of these properties now classified can count on the support of the Ministry, assures the owner, “to ensure the transmission of these properties to future generations”.
Does protection come too late in some cases? The huge town house called Château Zoé-Turgeon in L’Ange-Gardien has stood abandoned for more than thirty years, despite the municipality having legal powers to intervene to slow the accelerated decline. In 2020, given the urgency of the situation, a file was submitted to the MCC in Quebec so that the state could take immediate action. Three years later the house received a classification but is still in an advanced state of disrepair.
Faster now?
The minister pointed out that the files still to be examined, as well as the next proposals submitted to the MCC, “will be the subject of a decision within a maximum of 18 months for most applications”. In an interview, the minister claimed that with this action he had proven that his ministry was capable of “acting quickly”.
The minister now promises deadlines for processing the files of a maximum of 18 months. This does not include the time required to approve possible new classifications within its jurisdiction. The Heritage Act provides that the delivery of a declaration of intent to maintain confidentiality carries additional expectations. From the date the intent to classify is issued, the MCC has one year to officially classify a property if it wishes to do so following a re-inspection. As is regularly the case, this period can even be extended by another year. In other words, several years can pass between the submission of a file and the decision on the classification.
Symbolic character
Among the strictly symbolic appointments announced on Tuesday, the MCC recognized businessman Julien-Édouard-Alfred Dubuc, head of the interwar Chicoutimi Pulp Company, as a historical figure. The state also gives an aura to the figure of the republican Ludger Duvernay, editor of the newspaper La Minerve and first organizer of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste banquet in 1834. The minister also gives state blessing to the figure of Jos Montferrand, a famous French-Canadian strongman who was involved in several battles in labor disputes.
The minister also targeted two intangible practices with his authority: “know-how and practices related to fishing” in the St. Lawrence River and jigging. This is once again a symbolic recognition of “living witnesses to our identity”. Why did the device fail the evaluation instead of the wooden sculpture in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli? “It may seem symbolic,” he says, “but it allows you to assume.” With Jitter there is a beautiful mobilization. » The minister invokes a “rigorous” process and criteria, adding that “heritage protection is not an exact science”.