From a heritage point of view, the situation of churches in Quebec is catastrophic. Neither the dioceses nor the various levels of government are seriously taking note of the fact that, if nothing is done, the province will lose these buildings by the dozens in the next decade. There is no pilot on the plane in this matter, and we are at a critical threshold. The City of Montreal is just beginning to take a more attentive interest in this issue, particularly through its pilot project on the preservation of religious built heritage, launched in the fall of 2023 in the Ville-Marie borough.
Collectively, we will not have time for half-solutions. 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. While the dioceses are without resources, the factory councils – the “CAs” of the churches – are left to their own devices to deal with urgent major maintenance work requiring specialized skills and colossal funds, which they do not have not, despite their good will.
In this context, it is unrealistic to think that individual donations will solve the problem. 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.
However, there will be no meaningful citizen engagement without collective reflection on the transfer of church property. This movement has begun throughout the province, but it is urgent to accelerate it. The main initiatives enabling the preservation of churches today come from secular citizens of various beliefs wanting to defend the historical and social heritage of their living environment. However, the Factory Act, which regulates the ownership of churches in Quebec and places their responsibility in the hands of denominational factory councils, prohibits many citizens from sitting on the board of directors of their neighborhood church. .
This law had a certain meaning when the social universe revolved around the organization of ancient parishes. Now that this is no longer the case, it is no longer enough, because the factory councils are no longer able to ensure the maintenance of the buildings. In collaboration with these councils, 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.
In France, churches have belonged to municipalities since 1905. In Quebec, municipalities could, in consultation with the community, play the same role of mediation and facilitate community development and social economy enterprise projects, managed by the intermediary of an NPO or a social utility trust, following the excellent suggestion of Luc Noppen, specialist in urban heritage issues.
Rather than being sacrificed to the pressures of real estate speculation, many churches could thus become rich spaces invested by the community and citizens, spaces of social and economic mediation and innovation, promoting exchanges between generations, customs, cultures, thereby oxygenating entire neighborhoods which, in large cities, are becoming gentrified and closing up. This complex challenge is an opportunity to be fully seized, through reflection on the cities we want, with critical imagination and real civil determination.
In the meantime, if buildings deteriorate, but their administrators delay in starting the work essential to their preservation, municipalities also have the means and the duty to intervene, under the new version of the Regulations relating to occupation and Building Maintenance, which states that an owner has an obligation to meet strict requirements for the upkeep and maintenance of a building.
We therefore call on the government of Quebec, the dioceses, the factory councils, the cities and districts and you, dear fellow citizens: it is up to us to demand that this precious built heritage be preserved. bequeathed by the generations who preceded us. What will save these old buildings will first be our ability to integrate them into the dynamics of contemporary neighborhoods through citizen projects and new property sharing. It’s up to us to imagine the churches of tomorrow, and to open their doors, all together.
The Portes Ouvertes citizen group therefore proposes:
• Let citizens and groups come together around these questions.
• That the factory councils in Quebec reflect, from a synodal perspective, on the situation of their church and their dialogue with civil society, around shared values.
• That factory councils and dioceses resist the temptation to sell off religious built heritage to private interests and that they grant a right of pre-emption to the community environment and social economy initiatives.
• That in Montreal, each borough adopts a plan for the preservation of religious built heritage, following the initiative of the Ville-Marie borough.
• That the government of Quebec and the municipalities clearly support citizen initiatives, giving them the means to achieve their ambitions, in particular through substantial funding from the Quebec Religious Heritage Council.
*Co-signed this letter: Amélie Girard, general director of Économie sociale Laurentides; David Gobeille-Kaufman, Fresh Forces sharing community; Marie-Hélène Voyer, writer, essayist, professor; HocheLab Group (Montreal); Martin St-Denis, M. Sc., consultant at Coop interface; Abrielle Sirois-Cournoyer, ALTE Coop; Élie Desrochers, planner, coop Enclume; Ève Renaud-Roy, urban designer and planner, coop Enclume; Alexie Baillargeon-Fournelle, urban planner, Enclume coop; Denise Poirier, committee for the requalification of the Saint-Léonard-de-Portneuf church; Martin Couture, churchwarden of the Sacré-Coeur de Jésus parish (diocese of Nicolet); Lily Thibodeau, responsible for the acquisition and requalification project of the Sainte-Jeanne d’Arc church (Lévis); Émilie Lalancette-Néron, director of territorial vitality and leisure, City of Nanville; Dany Larrivee, general director of the Municipality of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, responsible for the requalification of the Municipality’s church; Daniel Martin, citizen of L’Anse-au-Griffon and administrative coordinator of the Griffon community center (former Saint-Joseph church); Mireille Bilodeau, president of the Board of Directors of the Griffon Community Center; Paul Mackey, SACRED; Pivot, architectural cooperative; Marianne Lemieux-Aird, for Entremise.