For the past seven summers, crews from the City of Montreal and Pointe à Callière have been digging through what was once a parking lot. The reason? In the mid-1800s it was home to Canada’s Parliament building.
Montreal served as the capital of the pre-confederal United Province of Canada (which spanned the present-day provinces of Ontario and Quebec) for five years, from 1844-1849. During that time, the colonial parliament met in a building in Old Montreal at Place d’Youville.
If you’re wondering why a building of such historical significance wasn’t preserved, it’s because it burned to the ground in 1849 after riots led by the city’s anglophone merchant class. After the fire, the capital was moved to Toronto, then Québec City, and finally to Ottawa in 1866.
For a century, the site of Montreal’s brief moment as Canada’s national capital sat empty, as a parking lot. Then, in 2010, work began to excavate the site for remnants.
“It’s an important moment in our own history, I think we have to learn from the past. Democracy is fragile,” remarked Mayor Denis Coderre at the unveiling of the artifacts recovered from the excavation. He said that understanding that turbulent time in our political history can better prepare us for today’s uncertain political climate.
The city says that excavation work has now finished, and the site will be temporarily filled-in to protect the stonework from the harsh winter ahead. But Pointe à Callière says that their work has just begun. Beyond cataloguing all the items recovered, which range from historic stamps to books and dinnerware, the museum is also preparing to set about preserving the site for future appreciation.
Over the next four years, Pointe à Callière will build a new pavilion at the site of the old Parliament, which will be connected to the museum’s existing buildings. This will allow this forgotten moment in Montreal’s history to be remembered and observed by generations to come.