Hundreds of Plateau residents packed a Park Ave. church basement on Thursday night to find out what the future holds for Montreal’s oldest hospital.
The Hotel Dieu was founded in 1645 by nurse Jeanne Mance, one of Montreal’s co-founders. It’s been at its current location at the corner of St. Urbain and des Pins for more than 150 years. The site is set to be closed later this year.
To some in attendance at the meeting, the hospital is more than just a place to receive medical care.
“I live close to it and several of my family have been treated there,” said activist and journalist Anne Lagace Dowson. “A couple of them have died in the hospital, some of them were born there, so there’s an emotional attachment to the site.”
Dozens of organizations have expressed ideas for how to breathe new life into the site, including art studios, housing co-ops, local businesses.
“Those are wonderful old buildings,” said Milton-Parc community coalition spokesperson Lucia Kowaluk. “Not only that, but they’re strong and they’ve been very well maintained. We should keep them for community uses and that’s what we keep saying over and over again.”
Especially popular is social housing, something activists say the Plateau desperately needs.
“It’s well situated in the city and there’s lots of space, lots of parks around it, so that’s why it’s the perfect place to do that,” said Plateau tenants’ committee spokesperson Gabrielle Reneaud.
Another idea that has been floated is using the building as a public health facility.
“What we need is about half the beds we have right now and we need to keep the ER, the labs and the clnics,” said CSN union advisor Jean-Pierre Daubois.
With all these options on the table, advocates said they hope the public will put pressure on the provincial government to put the historic site to good use.
