Coderre says Black Rock memorial plan is on track
Mayoral candidate Denis Coderre is committed to working with Hydro-Québec and Montreal’s Irish community to find a better alternative for the city’s Black Rock memorial site, he reiterated while campaigning Friday.
“We will repair one of the great mistakes of the past,” Coderre, who visited the landmark with Équipe Denis Coderre party members Friday morning, said in a statement.
The new commemorative site, he added, would be easily accessible and include an interpretive centre.
But coming with little advance notice — and made in the absence of those who initially pushed for the project — the announcement was somewhat bittersweet to members of the Irish community who have long fought for a better site.
“We’re pleased the city is now on the record saying they’re going to work with Hydro-Québec to do something,” said Fergus Keyes of the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation, which has been advocating for an alternative for the last six years.
“But they kind of didn’t bother to talk to us or invite us.”
Scott Phelan, president of the St. Patrick’s Society of Montreal, said he received an invitation to the news conference Thursday night, but by the time he opened it Friday morning, he couldn’t make it in time.
Phelan was glad to hear Coderre re-address the issue, he said, but questioned why more members of the Irish community weren’t invited to attend.
“I don’t know why the community at large wasn’t included to celebrate any positive announcement or development,” he said. “But we should take the positive out of this — the mayor has given a solid commitment toward fulfilling a long-standing desire of the Irish community of Montreal.”
Asked about who was invited, Coderre spokesperson Noémie Brière-Marquez said Friday’s news conference wasn’t a formal event and only a first step. “Moving forward, all parties will be invited to sit at the table for the next steps.”
The Black Rock, which commemorates as many as 6,000 Irish famine victims buried at the site, is in the median between traffic lanes on Bridge St., near the Victoria Bridge.
Last May, it was announced Hydro-Québec would be buying the land next to it, where advocates had envisioned the new commemorative site. A working committee was announced shortly thereafter that includes the city, Hydro-Québec and Montreal’s Irish community and will study a better alternative.
“Whether people are not working completely in concert yet, I think that’s a problem. But I don’t think it’s insurmountable,” Phelan said. “I think what’s more important is that the ultimate goal is achieved.”