Will the old prison on Anticosti Island finally be razed? Although it constitutes a rare witness to the history of the island at the time when it was, from 1895, the property of the French chocolatier Henri Menier, the Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC) does not did not object to its demolition. The MCC is now partly changing its mind, specifying to the To have to that it could support the repair of the building by allocating the subsidies necessary for its restoration.
This money, indicates the MCC, could just as well be attributed to potential private owners as to the municipality of Anticosti itself, if it were to decide to enhance the building.
“Although the former prison of Port-Menier, on Anticosti Island, has no status under the Cultural Heritage Act, the Ministry of Culture and Communications attaches great importance to the built heritage of the island”, maintains the MCC in a letter addressed to the To have to.
However, the MRC de Minganie and the municipality have clearly indicated that they do not want to preserve the building, even if individuals on site wish to buy it back and take care of it themselves.
It breaks my heart that the State wants to pay to destroy it when it has been offered for months to buy it and take care of it ourselves.
In a letter sent this week to the municipality, the MRC and various government authorities, two residents of the island, Fernand Gendron and Yvan Méthot, reiterated their desire to buy and restore this heritage building to avoid the worst. “It breaks my heart that the state wants to pay to destroy it when we have been offering it, for months, to buy it and take care of it ourselves,” says Yvan Méthot at To have to.
The management of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and the Côte-Nord of the MCC claims to be “always ready[e] to facilitate consultation between the parties”, while recalling that it has financial assistance programs that would support the restoration. Until the election of the new government, the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks (MFFP) owned the building. This ministry has since seen its powers redistributed.
In poor condition
According to a report obtained by The duty thanks to the law on access to information, the building had been deemed “unhealthy, dangerous and in a very advanced degree of dilapidation” by the MFFP.
Messrs. Gendron and Méthot want to buy the old prison as is. “I visited it last year, said Fernand Gendron. It is true that there is now a hole in the roof. But the structure is still very good. It’s upwind, built on rock. On the island, [le bois] does not rot easily as elsewhere. Preservation conditions are better. But of course we have to deal with it now. And that’s what we want to do. “In poor condition, but perfectly salvageable, therefore, according to these two men who say they have experience in restoration.
In other documents obtained through the access to information law, The duty learned that the municipality of Anticosti had sent a notice of demolition to the MCC on the 1er April 2022. The State did not object to this prospect of demolition. “If it deems it appropriate, wrote Nathalie Pitre, Director General of Regions and Metropolitan Areas of the MCC, in June, your municipality can immediately issue the permit or certificate of authorization in connection with the demolition. But the MCC recalled in the same breath that this building had its historical importance, having served as a prison as well as a police station for many years.
In the 19the century, there was also talk, for a time, of making Anticosti Island a penal colony.
For Mr. Gendron and his partner, the desire of the MFFP and the municipality to demolish the building despite their offer to buy it remains “a real mystery”.
“We tell them that we are ready to take it as it is! We ask them to make us an offer to buy it. We don’t put any conditions on them. And, despite everything, they prefer to destroy it […] and spend [des fonds publics] to destroy! Do you understand anything about this logic? The State is ready to spend money to demolish it rather than sell it to us to recover, at our expense! »
Another document obtained by The duty indicates that on October 19, 2021, the MCC “challenges the Municipality”, following a call from a citizen and discussions with the MFFP, in order to raise awareness of the importance of preserving its heritage. It is noted that the MCC did the same with the MRC de Minganie. He then informed the local authorities that a financial assistance program existed for this type of restoration project.
The prefect of the MRC de Minganie, Luc Noël, however indicated to the Dsee that he was primarily concerned with matters of transportation to the island. The question of the preservation of heritage and its enhancement seems secondary to him in his attributions of power, he said in an interview. “I will choose my battles for the island. And that’s not what I’m going to do! »
The age of the building
In its letter addressed to the municipality of Anticosti, a copy of which was also sent to the MRC of Minganie, the State specified that the old prison did indeed date from 1911. However, in the conversations that The duty with the MRC of Minganie last November, the prefect affirmed that his administration was unaware that the building dated from the beginnings of the occupation of the island by the industrialist Henri Menier. “We were told that the building dates from 1952”, explained Luc Noël. Warned of the blunder, the MRC had no intention of changing its mind and helping to preserve this building.
Following reports from the To have to, Mayor Hélène Boulanger reiterated her position on Radio-Canada television: “Am I happy that it is demolished? No. Do I want the prison to be preserved? No. For now, the building is totally obsolete, unsanitary and in a state of extreme decrepitude. »
For Fernand Gendron, the positions of the MRC, the municipality and the ministry that owns it remain incomprehensible. “They would like to keep him. We offer them to take care of it, at our expense. But they say the same that they are going to destroy it! Do you understand anything logical in that? »