{"id":191001,"date":"2018-11-24T22:47:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T03:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=191001"},"modified":"2018-11-24T22:47:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-25T03:47:19","slug":"quebec-town-insists-politics-not-involved-in-demolition-of-controversial-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/11\/24\/quebec-town-insists-politics-not-involved-in-demolition-of-controversial-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec town insists politics not involved in demolition of controversial house"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The house, built around 1820, was home to Rene Boileau, a local notary who took part in the Rebellions of 1837-1838. (File Photo<\/a>: barnyz\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MONTREAL \u2014 There has been a strong public outcry over the demolition of a house in the town of Chambly, Quebec, with links to a civilian uprising against British rule in the 1800s.<\/p>\n

The house, built around 1820, was home to Rene Boileau, a local notary who took part in the Rebellions of 1837-1838.<\/p>\n

His father, also named Rene, was a member of the parliament of Lower\u00a0Canada\u00a0for the Canadian party, which later became the Patriot party in 1826.<\/p>\n

Despite efforts by local citizens to save the house, the wrecking ball brought down the Maison Boileau on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Michel Larose, the town’s director-general, said he made the decision to demolish it because it was in poor condition, insisting it had nothing to do with politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s mainly the question of safety that prompted me to act,\u201d Larose said in an interview with The Canadian Press.<\/p>\n

Larose said the municipality is not required by law to have a resolution from council to demolish a building, especially when the structure belongs to the town.<\/p>\n

But Louise Chevrier, a local historian and novelist, said Saturday that rules were not followed, no demolition notice was given and the decision was made in secret.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe house should have been restored, but the town of Chambly did not take all the necessary measures to protect it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Chevrier is also part of a citizens’ movement that organized a vigil Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

She said the group is \u201cconvinced the house could have remained standing for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maison Boileau was originally abandoned by its owners in 2016 because it was no longer habitable due to mould and concerns that it would collapse.<\/p>\n

The town paid $550,000 to buy the property and had hoped to turn the house into a tourist office, but that idea was abandoned.<\/p>\n

Larose said engineers estimated in November 2017 that it would have cost $1.8 million to rebuild it and today, the bill would have surpassed $2 million.<\/p>\n

When crews arrived on Thursday, several residents and a local politician tried unsuccessfully to halt the demolition.<\/p>\n

Christian Picard, a former Parti Quebecois candidate in the recent election, was arrested for trying to stop workers from bringing down the house, but was later freed.<\/p>\n

He slammed the town’s administration on Saturday, adding that it’s time to change the way Quebec protects its heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s clearly a problem in Quebec and we have to change our practices, our regulations and laws,\u201d Picard said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to find a new way to protect our heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the rebellions of 1837-1838 do not go unheralded in Quebec.<\/p>\n

While the rest of\u00a0Canada\u00a0celebrates Victoria Day, Quebecers mark National Patriots’ Day on the Monday preceding May 25th.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 There has been a strong public outcry over the demolition of a house in the town of Chambly, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":191003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-peter-rakobowchuk","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}