“From a heritage point of view, the situation of churches in Quebec is catastrophic. » This is what the Open Doors group, made up of citizens concerned about the rapid deterioration of churches, affirms in a public letter published today in The duty. In a context where the maintenance of these old buildings is becoming more and more difficult, the situation is serious, they argue.
“This letter is a very good initiative,” comments Luc Noppen, architectural historian and specialist in churches in Quebec. “But she doesn’t go far enough because it’s even worse than that!” And a lot! » According to him, there are at least 2,000 churches in Quebec threatened with the worst in the very near future. “We don’t know what to do with it. » Yet, he said, they could be useful, with their land, at a time of a terrible housing shortage.
The letter from the Portes Ouvertes group is supported by various actors from municipalities, cooperatives, community groups, including Amélie Girard, general director of Économie sociale Laurentides, essayist and professor Marie-Hélène Voyer, land planner Élie Desrochers, urban planner Alexie Baillargeon-Fournelle and urban designer Ève Renaud-Roy.
“Many churches, particularly weakened by their extraordinary architecture, are in poor condition, and their deterioration continues to accelerate to the point of becoming, in many cases, irreversible,” underline the signatories.
Nearly 280 of these company-paid buildings have been demolished since 2003, according to data collected by The duty. Buildings will end up abandoned or simply put up for sale, without planning.
According to Luc Noppen, the Quebec Religious Heritage Council (CPRQ), the organization which in principle ensures the preservation of this collective wealth, does not have the necessary resources to ensure the urgent reconversion of churches for the benefit of the community.
The Council has funds of 35 million per year for hundreds of churches, while a single church, if large, may require much more money. Mr. Noppen is a member of the board of directors of the CPRQ. “We can offer $300,000 or similar amounts to either party to restore a roof. But that doesn’t allow churches to be converted, such sums! »
Gone, the time of quests
The time for collections and individual donations to help these imposing buildings which mark the Quebec landscape is a thing of the past, suggest the signatories of the letter. These buildings can no longer be preserved by individual outbursts of generosity.
“For a large number of churches, the only way forward will be complete or partial “requalification”: in other words, a change of vocation and use. The churches that survive will be those in which the communities around them have invested as well as those that have been protected by those communities. » Which implies a change of ownership for these buildings.
According to Professor Luc Noppen, we must even go further. At a time of a housing crisis, he argues that part of the solution lies partly on this side. “In 2002, we suggested that at least 20,000 social housing units could be built by recovering churches from all potential sites. » Time was already running out. And here we are on the edge of the abyss. “A deal must be concluded with the archbishoprics,” he said, so that certain buildings are sold and the most important ones quickly return to the company.
Legal issue
The signatories of this public release note that the main initiatives today allowing the preservation of churches come from secular citizens, of diverse beliefs, people who wish to “defend the historical and social heritage of their living environment”. However, the Factory Act, which regulates the ownership of churches in Quebec, places responsibility for them in the hands of denominational factory councils. So much so that this provision prohibits many citizens from serving on the board of directors of their neighborhood church. This leads to depriving churches of the structural support necessary to save them.
In other words, time is running out for a “handover to the community” which involves a new legal perspective on these buildings. “We must therefore encourage a form of transfer to the community, which financed these churches and to which they belong, not legally, of course, but legitimately, we believe. For this reason, the property of certain churches in Quebec, in the regions for example, was transferred to the community for a symbolic sum of one dollar: this ethical choice appears exemplary. »
Factory councils and dioceses must resist, argues the group, the temptation to sell off religious built heritage to private interests. In this regard, a right of pre-emption should at least be granted to the community sector and social economy initiatives.
The Portes Ouvertes group recalls that in France, these religious buildings have belonged to municipalities since 1905. “In Quebec, municipalities could, in consultation with the community, play the same role of mediation and facilitate community and business development projects of social economy, managed through an NPO or a social utility trust, following the excellent suggestion of Luc Noppen, specialist in urban heritage issues. »
The group sees this takeover as a way to see these buildings of great collective value escape the waltz of real estate speculation. The old churches of Quebec could thus become “rich spaces [dans lesquels investissent] the community and citizens, spaces for social and economic mediation and innovation, promoting exchanges between generations, uses, cultures, thereby oxygenating entire neighborhoods which, in large cities, are becoming gentrified and close. This complex challenge is an opportunity to be fully seized, through reflection on the cities we want, with critical imagination and real civil determination.”
Duties and obligations of municipalities
The churches are deteriorating. Does society have the leisure to do nothing? No, says the Open Doors group. “The municipalities have […] the means and duty to intervene, under the new version of the Regulations relating to the occupation and maintenance of buildings. » This new guideline stipulates “that an owner has the obligation to respect strict requirements regarding the upkeep and maintenance of a building”. It is up to municipalities to enforce this obligation.
But the group also points out the need for the State to support citizen initiatives in favor of the safeguarding of religious heritage, which involves in particular “substantial funding from the Quebec Religious Heritage Council”.
For Luc Noppen, “we must develop solutions for the rural world, but also show imagination for churches in big cities”. Some neighborhoods have several religious buildings. “We have to prioritize. And quick ! This letter, really, is not alarmist enough. We waited far too long to act. »