She becomes the sixth person and third woman to occupy the highest management position at the museum located on Dalhousie Street, in the Old Port of Quebec.
His appointment was ratified by the Quebec Council of Ministers on Wednesday.
Ms. Lemieux replaces Stéphan La Roche, who left the chair after nine years and two mandates. He has since been appointed head of the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.
In interview at Soleilthe Quebec Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, estimated that this appointment “is a continuation” of what Mr. La Roche was doing.
Minister Lacombe chose Ms. Lemieux from two proposals from the selection committee.
Return to the museum
He calls her “very human, a manager skilled at creating consensus and leading teams in a very positive way.” He sees in her someone “very sensitive to the needs of the public” and well placed to continue in the vein of a museum “open to the public and very close to citizens”.
After having been a journalist at SoleilMs. Lemieux entered municipal politics in 2009 alongside Régis Labeaume, of whom she was vice-president of the executive committee of the City of Quebec.
Julie Lemieux worked eight years in municipal politics, from 2009 to 2017. We see her here during the announcement of her resignation, with Régis Labeaume, mayor of Quebec at the time. (Frédéric Matte/Archives Le Soleil)
After her time in politics, Ms. Lemieux worked for the first time at the Musée de la civilization in 2018, becoming general secretary, therefore the right arm of the general director Mr. La Roche.
She then became boss of Opération Enfant Soleil in June 2019, then director of the Quebec regional station of - in February 2022, before taking control of the Foundation of the University Hospital Center (CHU) of Quebec last April .
She returns to the museum through the front door.
“I don’t want to put words in her mouth, but she made us understand that this is the fulfillment of a dream for her,” rejoiced the minister, happy to see her so happy to be chosen.
The fidgeting that can be explained
As for the fact that this is a fourth job change in six years for Ms. Lemieux, her second just this year, Mr. Lacombe sees it rather as “a guideline which for me is very stable”.
“Every time she changed, it was a logical progression.”
— Minister Mathieu Lacombe, on Julie Lemieux’s numerous job changes in recent years
Himself a former journalist turned politician, the minister also inquired about the relationships Ms. Lemieux had during her years at city hall.
He concluded that she was “not a controversial elected official, not a quibbling elected official. She left a positive impression,” says Mr. Lacombe.
His term is five years.
His base annual salary of $217,754. With the retirement plan and other benefits linked to the position, we are talking about $243,766 per year. Amounts pre-established by the Secretariat for Higher Employment.
Nearly half a million visitors
The Museum of Civilization was visited by 496,647 visitors during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, 43% of whom came from the greater Quebec region.
Since its opening to the public in 1988, more than 21 million people have passed through its doors.
The museum had a budget of 44.1 million for the 2023-2024 financial year, including 27 million coming from the pockets of the Quebec government, so 61%. Of these 27 million in public money, 6.4 million was to be used for Blue Spaces, a stillborn project of the Legault government.
It is one of the four national museums in Quebec, with the Museum of Fine Arts in Quebec, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal and the future Museum of History, which will also be in Quebec.
Since the official departure of Mr. La Roche at the beginning of October, the deputy director general of the Musée de la civilization, Louis-Yves Nolin, has held the position on an interim basis.
The chairman of the Museum’s board of directors is Michel Dallaire, head of the real estate company Groupe Dallaire, one of the largest landowners in Quebec.
