(Montreal) The Ministry of Culture is investing 4 million to promote knowledge of Quebec’s real estate heritage.
In a press release published Monday afternoon, the Minister of Culture and Communications, Nathalie Roy, announced the creation of the program “Characterization of buildings and sectors with heritage potential”.
The press release emphasizes that the initiative “stems from a commitment made by the Minister in the action plan established following the recommendations of the Auditor General of Quebec on the safeguard and enhancement of immovable heritage”.
A damning report by Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc, made public in June 2020, noted the government’s laxity when it comes to classifying and protecting Quebec’s heritage buildings, which form the “legacy bequeathed to future generations”.
According to the 300-page report, buildings with heritage value are too often left to their own devices, deteriorating over the years, victims of the negligence of the Ministry of Culture.
The report also underlined that the ministry entrusted to the municipalities an important part of the responsibility for safeguarding the immovable heritage of Quebec, but without providing them with the tools or the support required to carry out this demanding task.
The Ministry of Culture affirms that the new funding will allow the MRCs “to acquire a better knowledge of their built heritage, an essential step for its inventory and its preservation”.
Thus, “the sums granted will allow municipalities to entrust research mandates to organizations in the fields of history and heritage, such as historical societies”, according to the ministry’s press release.
“The promotion and protection of Quebec’s heritage is everyone’s business! To protect our built heritage, we have to know it. The contribution of our municipal partners is essential in this exercise. The new program is a suitable way to achieve this, ”Minister Roy said in the press release.
His ministry emphasizes that the funding will allow the RCMs to begin the inventory of their real estate assets built before 1940, although more recent constructions could also be included.
The maximum grant that the ministry can award to an applicant is $ 50,000 for the completion of the project.
This funding responds to a need expressed by the Federation of Quebec Municipalities (FQM) which stressed that it constitutes “an essential first step towards the protection of immovable heritage”.
“Last February, as part of our pre-budget requests, we estimated the amount needed to carry out a first inventory by the MRCs at $ 50,000, which is exactly the amount provided for in this new program,” said Jacques Demers. , president of the FQM, to The Canadian Press.
Mr. Demers, who is mayor of Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, underlined that “it is essential to equip decision-makers with tools to distinguish what is of interest from what is less so in order to to better protect and enhance our heritage ”.
Since the start of its mandate, the Legault government has announced various funding to improve the protection of real estate, including a sum of 30 million in December 2019.
The government also made changes to the Cultural Heritage Act last spring.
Thus, the regional county municipalities are obliged “to adopt and periodically update an inventory of buildings constructed before 1940 which are located on their territory and which have heritage value”.
The question of the protection of heritage buildings has often rebounded in the news in recent years.
In 2018, the demolition of the house of patriot René Boileau, in Chambly, aroused the indignation of several groups and citizens.
More recently, in Quebec, the sale of Maison Chevalier to Gestion 1608, a division of Groupe Tanguay, had caused opposition parties in the National Assembly to leap.
More recently, in mid-October, hundreds of historians and heritage advocates mobilized to denounce the sale.
They had signed a letter entitled “What will be left to Quebeckers in the cradle of French America if the state sells Maison Chevalier?” ”
“What will be the next jewel of our heritage that will be desecrated and sold? We do not understand this decision ”, could one read in the missive.
The signatories demanded that the Musée de la civilization be provided with an annual and recurring budget so that the Maison Chevalier is accessible and remains the property of all Quebecers.