Activists pack Sept-Îles city hall to protest its demolition

Activists packed Sept-Îles city hall last night in protest of its planned demolition next year. The action, called “deplorable” by the mayor, is the latest coup in the saga surrounding the building’s heritage status.

The city hall has been covered with large white tarpaulins on which is written the word pillageA message denouncing the conversion of the town hall into a parking lot and the rare earth factory project in Sept-Îles accompanies everything.

This morning’s events are deplorable. We’re going to have to mobilize municipal employees. Plus, it’s a holiday and all these people are tired. Citizens have other ways to make themselves heard than to cause this kind of destruction to the building.

This morning, Sûreté du Québec officers established a security perimeter around city hall. The police force is conducting an investigation, but no arrests have been made.

Municipal employees and police officers dismantled the installation late in the morning.

Demolition planned for next year

The city hall is to be demolished in the fall of 2025 to make way for a parking lot, as part of the Sept-Îles hospital expansion project.

The mayor recalled this morning that the deed of sale with the CISSS de la Côte-Nord was signed and that it won’t change.

A report commissioned by the City in 2020 from the firm Patri-Arch stated that the building has a higher heritage value, i.e. the fourth degree on a scale of five. The study nevertheless pointed out that numerous modifications not respecting the original style had altered its authenticity. The dilapidated state of the structure had also been raised.