Mile End Under Construction
During fall 2007, a new generation of activists breathed new life into the Citizens’ Committee, which had been in semi-hibernation since the early 2000s. Many of these younger people were parents of children at École Lambert-Closse, on Bernard Street, where they met Claudine Schirardin, one of the Committee’s founders, who was responsible for the daycare service. They were involved in the redesign of the schoolyard or concerned about the impact on neighbourhood life of Ubisoft, the large video game development company which moved to Mile End in 1997.[1]
On January 23, 2008, the city announced a revitalization plan for the Saint-Viateur Est sector; this rapidly became a cause for concern.[2] The city sought to improve vehicular access to this area, dominated by massive buildings that once housed garment factories, to make it more attractive. The plan included extending Saint-Viateur Street as far as Henri-Julien Avenue, in order to make it a “lively commercial street”. It also projected development of Alma Street, a right-of-way located behind the De Gaspé Avenue megastructures which would be connected to a planned westward extension of Carmel Avenue. Construction of a bicycle/pedestrian path to the Rosemont metro station (on the other side of the railway tracks) was also planned. In the wake of Ubisoft’s arrival the city’s intent was to attract new-economy companies and encourage the construction of 500 dwellings, principally as condos.
The idea of extending Saint-Viateur was the proposal that raised the greatest concern. As Claudine Schirardin explains: “We had been fighting for years to get stop signs on Saint-Viateur and now they were announcing a measure that would mean even more traffic on this street.”
The Committee invited the municipal employees to present the project to neighbourhood residents at an assembly held on April 9, 2008.
Richard Ryan, at the time one of the new members of the Committee, remembers: “We didn’t know what to expect, whether a lot of people would show up.”
A high-level bureaucrat didn’t hide his skepticism: “You know, the people who show up are mostly there for the coffee and doughnuts.”
Richard continues: “The artists arrived and we had a packed auditorium!”
The Citizen’s Committee was beginning to understand the reality of the eastern part of Mile End — that it housed so many artists.
Claudine Schirardin: “We were discovering Saint-Viateur Est, a portion of the neighbourhood completely unknown to us. Previously, when we posted our announcements and flyers, we’d always stop at Saint-Laurent Blvd.”
Ubisoft was far from the only new tenant of spaces left vacant by the decline in the garment industry. Countless cultural creators had also discovered these vast light-filled spaces, often offered at very low rents by hard-pressed landlords. The landlords looked the other way when some of the artists added residential loft-type space to their studios. A series of collectives sprung up. For example, in 2001, the Centre d’art et de diffusion Clark, expelled from downtown when the building it occupied was transformed into condos, moved to De Gaspé Avenue; Atelier circulaire followed a year later. Simultaneously, a new indie music scene, primarily anglophone, already active in the surrounding area, also moved into spaces. Bands created rehearsal spaces, and semi-underground raves went on into the early morning hours in these vast spaces of former factories. The POP Montreal festival was one of the results. All these artists were worried because they feared the sector’s renewal would occur at their expense. Among the new generation that joined the Citizens’ Committee’s coordination committee (CoCo) was artist Isabelle Anguita, who focused on these concerns.
Poster announcing a citizens evening, as part of the “Mile-End en chantier” mobilization. November 26, 2008.
Following this first public meeting, the CoCo launched a broad consultation effort, which continued from May 2008 to April 2009. It encompassed several elements: Mile End Memories gave presentations and led walking tours (Susan Bronson, Josée Laplace and Justin Bur). Exploratory walks and presentations on sustainable development were also offered; thematic ‘citizens’ cafés’ which brought together between 50 and 100 people on a weekly basis over three months. The effort culminated in a Citizens’ Forum, held on April 26, 2009. The 130 participants agreed on five guidelines to be implemented through a series of projects:
- Preserve assets: This meant maintaining the “friendly, inclusive and creative” character of Mile End, in particular through the development of social housing and co-operatives for families and artists.
- Create new meeting spaces: multifunctional, intergenerational public spaces, including a market offering organic products.
- Develop connections with nature: By taking over the “hidden green spaces of the area”, and by creating an urban nature trail to promote biodiversity.
- Reduce car traffic and encourage active transportation: Through the development of “small vegetated ‘shared streets’ in which cars are not given priority” and the installation of multiple speed bumps and stop signs.
- Integrate the Saint-Viateur Est megastructures into the Mile End neighbourhood: By making them into a cultural hub and maintaining the existing creative studios.
- Create a ‘teen zone’: In the form of a skate park.
These recommendations did not end up on the shelf. The consultation allowed the merging of what had been separate and dispersed proposals by various individuals and groups. Associations were consolidated or created, with the goal of implementing the projects that came up during the consultation. Some no longer exist, but others are still active. Here is an overview.
- The Coopérative d’habitation Mile-End was launched following the Forum. The goal of this housing co-operative was to “keep current residents, many of whom are creators, in the neighbourhood.” At the end of 2018, its members began to move into a newly constructed building located at 5161 avenue De Gaspé.
- As a result of work by artist Emily Rose Michaud and naturalist Roger Latour to preserve the renaturalization of the former CP railway yards, citizens involved in urban ecology created the Imagine (le) Mile End collective. This group later evolved into the Les Amis du Champ des possibles organization. In May 2013, Les Amis signed an unprecedented co-management agreement with the Plateau Mont-Royal borough. The agreement protects the natural character of the site, and the city abandoned its plans to install a public works yard in the north end of the field
- Other groups were formed to reduce the impact of car traffic in neighbourhood streets and to create more pedestrian spaces. They included “Mile End sans ma voiture”, which later was renamed “RuePublique”. For several years, this association organized the annual Journée des bons voisins, which invited residents to rethink Saint-Viateur Street.
- In 2012, the cultural creators of De Gaspé Avenue created the Regroupement Pied Carré. With support from the Plateau borough and the city of Montreal, it negotiated a long-term lease with one of the landlords to protect many of the artist’s studios located in the megastructures in the district. A coalition was created in 2012 to maintain Bain Saint-Michel as a creative space. The city then undertook restoration of this heritage building, which is to become a cultural centre when it reopens.
- Also, the borough created several new outdoor public places, providing new meeting space for residents. The latest example is located at Fairmount East/Saint-Dominique.
- In 2019, the borough also developed a multipurpose/skateboarding area, the skatepark, under the Rosemont–Van Horne overpass, at the intersection of Cloutier Street and Saint-Laurent Boulevard. This space also includes a stage for artistic performances.
Some members of the Citizens’ Committee coordination committee (CoCo) in 2012. From left to right: Michel Gauthier, Isabelle Anguita, Frédéric Froument, Claudine Schirardin and Marke Ambard. Photo: Claudine Shirardin (private collection)
Lhasa-De Sela Park
On January 1, 2010, singer Lhasa De Sela passed away at the age of 37, of breast cancer. Between international tours, and residence abroad, Mile End had become her home port. The announcement of her premature death unleashed strong emotions in the neighbourhood’s cultural milieu, where she had created close connections. A movement rapidly arose to find a way to honour her memory. The Citizens’ Committee, and especially veteran member Noëlle Samson, decided to make this one of its priorities. It was suggested to rename Clark Park after her. It was a favourite hang-out for Lhasa and she recorded her last album at the Hotel2Tango studio, located nearby. In addition, the park didn’t have an official name, it was just named after the adjacent street.
Noëlle Samson doesn’t hide the fact that initially her idea was strongly opposed by those responsible for municipal toponymy. “They told me that Lhasa hadn’t lived in Montreal long enough, and that she had only recorded three albums.” A municipal spokesperson confirms that the request was not considered a priority, because such decisions “have to wait their turn, given the few spaces available for new names.”[3] The Citizens’ Committee was not discouraged. First, it collected 600 signatures during two tribute performances held at the Rialto on January 6 and 7, 2012. Another petition was signed almost unanimously by neighbourhood merchants; Heritage preservation consultant Susan Bronson, a member of the Committee, prepared an extensive file;[4] and a vast movement was launched in the cultural milieu. More than a hundred creators, of all types, signed a statement of support. Noëlle underlines the fact that “the first to sign, was Leonard Cohen. He really wanted to sign it because they had worked together.”[5]
In September 2012, a surprise concert was held in the park to support the request. Bïa, Plants and Animals, Arthur H, Marie-Jo Thério and the Barr Brothers were some of the participants.[6] The breadth of the movement overcame the last objections of municipal authorities. The Plateau-Mont-Royal borough had already given its support in February 2012; the toponymy committee changed its original recommendation and city council voted unanimously in favour of changing the name in January 2014. Its resolution mentioned that the actions taken to perpetuate the memory of this artist was the reason for the decision. “Central to these actions [was] the Mile End Citizens’ Committee [which] had collected a great deal of support, testifying to the feelings of neighbourhood citizens, merchants, institutions and organizations for the late artist.”[7]
Lhasa-De Sela Park was officially inaugurated with a concert on May 15, 2014. On stage: Bïa and Patrick Watson. Photo: arrondissement du Plateau-Mont-Royal.
Other actions
In 2015, the Committee organized another consultation effort, for the area around the railway lines. It took the form of public meetings and guided tours, held from April to June. The culmination was a presentation of a brief to the borough, calling for the creation of a green corridor along the railway lines. The Committee also held regular citizen’s cafés. Themes discussed included: green alleys, fighting evictions, and retaining locally owned small businesses. For each municipal election, they organize a debate among mayoral and borough/city council candidates. The Committee also supported the Collectif pour les passages à niveau which works to create official crossings over CP railway lines to connect Plateau Mont-Royal with the Rosemont metro station and the rest of the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie borough.
Walking tour, part of the consultation about the area around the railway lines, spring 2015. Photo: Isabelle Anguita.
Candidates’ debate at the Rialto Theatre, organized by the Citizens’ Committee for the 2017 municipal elections. Photo: Yves Desjardins
The Committee continued to organize citizen cafés after the 2009 consultation. Here is a poster announcing one held in 2014.
Revitalization of the Saint-Viateur Est sector, a long-term project
For most of the 20th century, the eastern part of Mile End was an industrial zone in which a working-class neighbourhood coexisted with factories that took advantage of the adjacent railway lines. It was also one of the main centres of Montreal’s garment industry. The Peck factory, established at the corner of Saint-Laurent Blvd and St. Viateur Street in 1904, was soon surrounded by a myriad of small contractors and subcontractors. The area boomed during the years 1965–1973, when hundreds of factories were established in the vast buildings erected near the former railway spur, between Maguire Street and the railway tracks. However, during the 1990s, globalization led to a rapid decline in this industry.
During those same years the city had begun to redevelop the southern and eastern parts of the area (between Maguire Street and Laurier Avenue, from Henri-Julien to Saint-Denis) into residential zones. But the portion north of Maguire Street posed a particular challenge because of its concrete behemoths, known as the megastructures. Beginning in 2003, the city commissioned a series of studies to determine how to proceed.[8] The studies reported an ‘atypical’ area, at odds with the surrounding urban fabric. They also noted the presence of numerous abandoned spaces that create a feeling of insecurity, but which were also “coveted for residential development”. Opening up this “last frontier of the Plateau” would make it “a crossroads of innovation and creation” in order to attract, “new companies specializing in information technology” similar to Ubisoft. To achieve this, it was necessary to “create a stimulating district” and “capitalize on the very trendy image of the Plateau.”
Improving accessibility was identified as the first priority. It was necessary to “increase physical, economic and perceptual permeability toward Saint-Laurent and Saint-Denis.” It was proposed to create an east-west axis, by extending Saint-Viateur Street to Henri-Julien. This would “promote vehicular fluidity” and strengthen the “proximity connection” between Saint-Viateur and the adjacent area. There were also plans to extend Carmel Avenue to Alma Street, which was to be built behind the megastructures on De Gaspé Avenue.[9] The studies also recommended “re-establishing the continuity of De Gaspé and Henri-Julien streets to the north” and creating a safe link to the Rosemont metro station.
Various scenarios were considered to stimulate the new vocation of the district: expropriation and demolition of buildings (such as 5555 De Gaspé Avenue) in order to extend Saint-Viateur Street eastward; conversion of the megastructures at 5445, 5455 and 5605 De Gaspé Avenue to commercial use on the ground floors and residential use on the upper floors; construction of a new residential block on the site of the current Champ des Possibles, etc.
Two development projects for the block between De Gaspé and Henri-Julien avenues: Schème and Groupe conseil and ACA, 2003; Atelier Brac, 2005.
Various factors came together to bring about a thorough revision of these plans. In 2005, following a mobilization by citizens, the Ministry of Culture classified the Carmelite monastery as a historic monument, thwarting the interests of real estate developers. A protection area was created the following year. This measure imposed new constraints, since it limited the height of adjacent construction and made tranquility and silence essential objectives for the protected perimeter. In addition, the heritage character statement emphasized the desire to create within this area a “place of experimentation with an ecological vision, creative and respectful of the traces left by previous occupations.”[10] One such element, the Champ des Possibles project, forced the city to abandon its plans to build a service yard for municipal vehicles in the northern portion of the property.
In addition, in the years following the initial studies, a growing presence of cultural creators gradually became one of the sector’s dominant characteristics. The Corporation de développement économique communautaire (CDEC) Centre-sud / Plateau Mont-Royal commissioned a study in February 2009 to measure the extent of the phenomenon. Published in June of the same year, it confirmed the large number of artists’ studios and the precarious status of those who worked in them. The artists wanted the City of Montreal to protect these studios by granting the sector the status of a “visual arts creation hub”. The report concluded that these recommendations converge with those of the consultation held by the Citizens’ Committee a few weeks earlier.[11]
Another factor was that one of the organizers of Mile End en chantier, Richard Ryan, announced shortly after the conclusion of the exercise that he was leaving the Citizens’ Committee to run under the Projet Montréal’s banner to sit on the borough council. In his opinion, political action was essential to achieve the objectives of the consultation: “I presented the report to Luc Ferrandez (future mayor of the borough), and we agreed that this would be our roadmap for the neighbourhood.” The victory of Projet Montréal, which won all seats on the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough council on November 1, 2009, thus contributed to the municipal administration’s changing the plan.
The borough then commissioned new studies to integrate the Champ des Possibles into the redevelopment of the area. The new project also included extending Saint-Viateur Street as a pedestrian-cyclist path, rather than a street open to motorists, and creating a corridor to connect Henri-Julien Avenue to the Rosemont metro station and the bike path along the north side of the railway tracks.[12] The Saint-Viateur path was completed in 2017. However, development of pedestrian walkways in the axis of Alma and Du Carmel streets, as well as the redesign of Henri-Julien Avenue were postponed. In the latter case, creation of the corridor was hampered by CPR’s refusal to allow the construction of a pedestrian corridor across its right-of-way.
Research and writing: Yves Desjardins
Revision: Justin Bur
English translation: Joshua Wolfe
Sources and notes
In addition to the cited sources, this article was based on the report Le Mile End en chantier. Les citoyens s’expriment! published by the Comité des citoyens du Mile End in June 2009 and on interviews with the following people: Isabelle Anguita (2016), Richard Ryan (2021), Noëlle Samson (2021) and Claudine Schirardin (2016 and 2021). Yves Desjardins is grateful for their participation.
[1] To celebrate ten years in Mile End, Ubisoft revised the traditional neighbourhood street festival on Saint-Viateur during June 2007. Whether or not to participate in this event raised a great deal of debate, especially among the creative community in the neighbourhood.
[2] Sébastien Rodrigue, “Saint-Viateur Est. La revitalisation est lancée”, La Presse, 24 janvier 2008; “Spruce Up for Mile-End. $8.8 Million Project”, The Gazette, January 24, 2008, p. E7.
[3] Jean Siag, “Un parc pour Lhasa dans le Mile End?”, La Presse, February 2, 2012, p. A5.
[4] According to Richard Ryan, this document was instrumental in swaying discussion at the borough council and in the relevant municipal services.
[5] Other signatories included: Bïa, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Patrick Watson, Michel Rivard, Richard Séguin, Pierre Flynn, Marie-Jo Thério, Ariane Moffatt, Richard Desjardins, Cœur de Pirate (Béatrice Martin), Louis-Jean Cormier, Catherine Major, Salomé Leclerc, Thomas Hellman, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Yves Desrosiers, Mara Tremblay, Fanny Bloom, Godspeed You ! Black Emperor, Plants and Animals, Barr Brothers, Avec Pas d’Casques, Agnès Jaoui, Lou Doillon, Olivia Ruiz, Denis Villeneuve, Jean-Marc Vallée, Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval, Guylaine Tremblay, Monia Chokri, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Anaïs Barbeau-Laviolette, Evelyne Brochu, Louise Archambault, Sylvie Drapeau, Guy A. Lepage, Monique Giroux, Rebecca Makonnen and Fanny Britt.
[6] Émilie Côté, ”Spectacle en appui au parc ‘Lhasa de Sela’”, La Presse, September 20, 2012.
[7] Decisional summary for Resolution CM14 0061, Montreal City Council, January 27, 2014.
[8] Schème et Groupe conseil ACA, Étude pour le développement de l’îlot Bernard-Maguire-De Gaspé-Henri-Julien, 14 novembre 2003 ; Atelier BRAQ, Requalification du secteur Maguire, Montréal, 25 avril 2005 ; Ville de Montréal, Service de la mise en valeur du territoire et du patrimoine, Secteur Maguire : un territoire en pleine mutation, 15 mai 2006 ; Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, Secteur Saint-Viateur Est. Évaluation du potentiel économique et immobilier / Élaboration de la stratégie de développement, rapport final, juin 2007 ; Rémy Barbonne et Richard Shearmur, Requalification du secteur Saint-Viateur Est. Estimation des comportements de mobilité, INRS, octobre 2007.
[9] The Alma Avenue right-of-way was created by the City of Saint-Louis at the beginning of the 20th century, but was transferred to Canadian Pacific when the company created its railway yard on the site.
[10] Ville de Montréal, Division de l’expertise en patrimoine et en toponymie, Aire de protection du monastère des Carmélites, arrondissements du Plateau-Mont-Royal et de Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, October 1, 2012, p. 9.
[11] Darvida Conseil, Étude sur le développement culturel du secteur Saint-Viateur Est. Rapport final, June 15, 2009.
[12] Atelier braq, Requalification du secteur Saint-Viateur Est (évolution), December 13, 2010 ; Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, en collaboration avec Vlan Paysages et SMi, Projet Saint-Viateur Est, phase 3, Rapport de la consultation publique relative au concept d’aménagement préliminaire, October 2012.