SOS Eglises

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Lessons Learned

Photos of...

...St-Joachim

...Annonciation in Pointe-aux-Roches

...members of SOS-Églises at work

...important events

(1)
SOS founders, Adrien Sylvestre (standing)and Marcel Belisle (white hair, seated, on his right). There is a better photo of Marcel in the group picture below taken at Osgoode Hall.

(2)
David Tremblay leads the group discussion with the assistance of Jérôme Baillargeon at the flip chart. Jérôme's contribution to the movement included an extensive survey of Catholic church policies related to architecture and cultural affairs in general.

(3)
An attentive team focussing on the task.

(4)
And-a-two, And-a-three..!
In the photo: David Kostanjevec (playing the guitar) and his wife Debra (in black, leading the song) were active in the launching of the SOS campaign in 2001. Between them are Maurice Sylvestre and Larry Mailloux, two members from the earliest days of the movement.

(5)
A visit from the Minister of Culture! The Ontario Heritage Act was revised and strenghtened under the leadership of Mme Meilleur who expressed support and encouragement to SOS-Églises during her visit.

(6)
At the Windsor Ontario Court, awaiting Judge Johanne Morissette's deicision concerning SOS-Églises's request that the Saint-Joachim demolition permit be suspended in order to allow SOS-Église time to challenge the the Town of Lakeshore's policy for the implementation of the Ontario Heritage Act.

(7)
At Osgoode Hall Law Court in Toronto, a few members of SOS-Églises gather for a group picture during the Ontario Divisional Court hearings at Osgoode Hall in Toronto. First row, on the right, Marcel Belisle, co-founder of SOS-Églises, and David Tremblay, group leader since 2001. To David's right is Roger St-Pierre who chairs SOS-Églises meetings.

(8)
And now, a word from Pat Malicki, President of the Windsor-Essex Region of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. Pat has accompanied and actively supported SOS-Églises for many years.

(9)
A caricatural character named "POOF" was created to illustrate SOS-Églises information bulletins to the community. POOF is a wrecking ball that refuses to destroy heritage churches! Many residents started to call the fliers "POOFs", as in "Did you get the latest POOF?"!

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In mid-October 2002, parish volunteers started to empty the Saint-Joachim church of many of its artifacts. Alerted by a church neighbour, a few members of SOS-Églises gathered to protest against this first step toward demolition.

Saint-Joachim villagers expressed their outrage to the people taking away some of the community's treasured artifacts. But there was really no need for the police to be there!

Legal action was undertaken as a last resort when it became obvious that the demolition cranes were to appear the next day or so on the St-Joachim church lot. There was little time to prepare the case. Ronald Caza, Rodrigue Escayola and David Tremblay and other members of SOS-Églises worked to the early hours of the morning to be ready for court the next day to ask for an injuction to suspend the demolition permit until SOS-Églises had an opportunity to legally challenge the actions of the Town of Lakeshore in this matter.

November 1st 2002. Court day. Some members of SOS-Églises await the results of the proceedings in the waiting room of the Windsor Court House.

The ever present media: Gérard Malo of Radio-Canada interviews David Tremblay.

Other SOS-Églises members gather in front of St-Joachim Church and await the decision of the Court

...and pray!

The news of the permit suspension arrives at Saint-Joachim: it was worth the wait !

Ronald Caza joins the group in Saint-Joachim and receive the cheers of one and all. It was a sort of homecoming for Mr. Caza whose ancestors come from Saint-Joachim.

A few weeks later, in mid-November, 2002, Ronald Caza leaves the Windsor Court building after the judge referred the case to the Divisional Court who would meet at a date to be determined later. In the meantime, the Saint-Joachim church building was protected from the elements only with a blue tarp covering a large exterior wall opening after the removal of the front window during the suspended demolition work. .

It's only in May 2003 that the Saint-Joachim Divisional Court hearings were held, fittingly in a heritage setting : Osgoode Hall.

SOS-Églises lawyers, Ronald Caza, Rodrigue Escayola and Pascale Giguère enter the heritage building to defend other historical buildings.

The ever present media interview the lawyers for the Diocese and the municipality. The case was presented to three judges of the Ontario Divisional Court, which is a component of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. At the end of the two day deliberations, the judges informed the parties that they would study the facts presented to them and render their decision at a later date. The decision was announced in November. The three judges unanimously agreed with SOS-Églises’s contention that the Town had violated the intent of the Ontario Heritage Act and ordered the Muncipality to reconsider SOS-Églises’ proposal that the St-Joachim and Pointe-aux-Roches churches be designated as heritage sites. .

In the early stage of the legal proceedings in December 2002, the Diocese held a press conference in the Annonciation parish hall to reaffirm its position. Members of the public were not allowed in the hall and waited outside for news of what transpired. His Excellency Mgr Ronald Fabbro, Father Dwayne Adam, parish priest, and Annette Rondot, Chair of the Parish Advisory Committee, announced the name of the new Parish (Visitation) and affirmed their intention of replacing the village churches with the construction of a new "church complex". After the formal press conference, SOS-Églises held its own conference amidst the snowflakes and affirmed its determination to save the village churches.

Sharon Hill of the Windsor Star interviews a local resident sympathetic to the conservation of Pointe-aux-Roches' architectural legacy. By the way, this is not a typical winter scene in Pointe-aux-Roches, a small village 25 kms from the southern tip of Ontario,on the same lattitude as northern California!

An SOS-Églises member addresses Lakeshore Council at a special public consultation meeting on rezoning farmland for construction of the church to replace villages churches. The meeting was held in a community hall because Council Chamber could not accomodate the expected number of people attending.

The photo shows only half of the people in attendance (the pro conservation half!). To the left of the audience, sitting around a table are representatives of the parish council and of the diocese, accompanied by their lawyer.