The mayor of Mascouche does not believe that the mill and the miller’s house of the seigneurial domain of Mascouche will be able to survive another winter as their state of decrepitude is advanced. On Wednesday, Guillaume Tremblay asked for help from the Quebec government to save the two heritage buildings dating from the 18th century.and century and carry out the recreational tourism project desired by the City on the site.
Mayor Tremblay was criticized in 2020 when his city authorized the demolition of the Domaine’s main building, the seigneurial manor of Mascouche, following a report by the Fire Prevention Service which judged that its poor condition represented “significant and unequivocal” security issues. At the time, the mayor’s administration was planning to rebuild the mansion and set up a performance hall and dining areas as part of a recreational tourism project valued at $49 million.
The City has since tried to obtain government grants — from the Department of Culture and Canadian Heritage — to launch its project and restore the mill and the miller’s house, two buildings built around 1795. The mayor maintains that the multiple approaches to governments have been fruitless. “We have always been told that either we don’t fit into the programs or that there are no more funds,” he says.
However, he adds, during his visit to Mascouche in August 2020, the Prime Minister, François Legault, had praised the recreational tourism project and, in April 2021, the Minister of Culture, Nathalie Roy, had even hinted that his department was prepared to grant substantial financial assistance to the City to carry it out. A few months later, however, the City learned that the project was not eligible for subsidies, says Mayor Tremblay.
The Blue Spaces network
Guillaume Tremblay is now banking on the Espaces bleus network, a program announced by Quebec in June 2021 to support heritage projects. “When we saw the announcement for the Espaces bleus, we thought it was made for us,” says Mr. Tremblay. But as this program falls under the office of the Prime Minister, it is to François Legault that the mayor made his request for help on Wednesday. He maintains that he would need a favorable response by April 30 so that the City can issue calls for tenders and carry out urgent work to protect the two buildings.
And rather than selling the buildings to the government as part of the Espaces bleus program, Mascouche says it is ready to hand them over to it for free. “If it doesn’t work, we will have to evaluate all the possible scenarios for the City, but honestly, I don’t think the Government of Quebec can refuse,” said the mayor. “If we don’t act, the buildings will fall by themselves. It’s really one to midnight. »
Guillaume Tremblay believes that cities lack resources. He criticizes the government for having granted more responsibilities to municipalities in terms of heritage with its Bill 69 without having provided the required funding.
Regarding the destruction of the mansion in November 2020, Guillaume Tremblay maintains that the City had no choice given the danger that the building represented. Despite the measures put in place to ensure the security of the building, it was squatted by young people and had been set on fire twice, he recalls. “If someone today tells you that they are proud and happy to have demolished a mansion, they do not deserve a position like the one I hold. »
Classification requested
The Mascouche Historical Society is also concerned about the fate of the mill and the miller’s house. In December 2020, the organization also submitted a request for classification to the Ministry of Culture, but its request remained unanswered, indicates François Tétreault, coordinator at the Mascouche Historical Society. “We are worried because the two buildings are abandoned in the snow. But I am convinced that the mill and the miller’s house are still salvageable,” he says.
François Tétreault believes that the Espaces bleus program could be appropriate in the case of the Domaine de la Seigneurie de Mascouche, but in his opinion, it would be important for the citizens of Mascouche to be able to have a say in the use of the premises in the event of the taking of possession of the buildings by the government. “As long as the buildings are restored, the history is highlighted and the built heritage receives a little love, at the point where we are, we will jump on the solution that will allow us to solve the problem. “, he advances.
The demolition of the manor in 2020, which occurred two years after that of the Boileau house in Chambly, had created a shock wave at the time, remembers Mr. Tétreault: “For us, it was a great mourning”.
It should be noted that the City of Mascouche acquired the Domaine de la Seigneurie de Mascouche in 2014. Five years later, the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) and the government acquired 211 hectares of forest on the site.