Professor emeritus, University of Montreal
In Press on December 19, 2020, Mrs. Carole Deniger, President of Heritage Montreal, and Mr. Peter A. Howlett, President of Les amis de la montagne, appreciated the McGill University project to create on the site of the former Royal Hospital Victoria a multidisciplinary ecosystem to foster research, education and advocacy on sustainable development.
Using the same arguments used by citizens to prevent the pavilion at 1420, boulevard Mont-Royal of the University of Montreal (former motherhouse of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary) from being sold to the private sector, they insisted on the fact that it is essential that the site of this hospital located in the historic and natural district of Mount Royal remain in the public domain.
How can we explain that, in the case of Pavilion 1420, Héritage Montréal and Les Amis de la Montagne approved the private sale of this site, also located in the historic and natural borough of Mount Royal?
All the more so since they could not ignore that this sale by a public institution would undermine the candidacy of the historic and natural district of Mount Royal for the indicative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites as has let the federal government know in December 2017 by refusing to study the file.
That’s all well and good, advising McGill University, but how to explain the scandalous position of these two flagship organizations dedicated to the preservation of heritage regarding Pavilion 1420 of the University of Montreal? How to trust them now?
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