Canada/Gatineau wants to create a sports district
Sitting near an intersection, Gilles Chagnon carefully holds in his hands a 32-page booklet telling the story behind the names of some forty streets in the district he has represented for the past seven years.
With his passion for history and heritage, the elected official from Lucerne is currently working on a project that is even closer to his heart as President of the Comité de toponymie de la Ville de Gatineau. He and his colleagues want to pay tribute to athletes, coaches, builders and volunteers from the local sports scene by naming many of the streets of a major real estate project planned for the next few years in the Aylmer sector.
The new district is to be developed west of chemin Klock, at chemin Antoine-Boucher.
Nothing has been approved yet," warns Gilles Chagnon, referring to the project named Les Portes de l'Ouest by the developer.
However, the Toponymy Committee is already preparing.
We've decided that the theme will be sport and culture. We'll be able to name streets after people who have made their mark," confirms the municipal councillor.
We're going to start looking at available names," he adds.
Gatineau already has a bank of 273 names, from all fields, that meet the various criteria for toponymy. The person being celebrated must have been deceased for at least one year and have made a contribution to the community.
Gilles Chagnon gives the example of Pauline Foran, a volunteer whose name has already been chosen for a street in a neighborhood already under construction north of the Paul-Pelletier pool. As a member of the community organization Aydelu, she had played a role in financing the construction of the Frank-Robinson arena in the early 1970s.
Before she [Foran] got the grants, she mortgaged her house for the arena. We have to do it," says Chagnon. There are great stories like that in our town.
Avoiding "oversights
The idea of a sports-themed district is welcomed by the Réseau du patrimoine de Gatineau et de l'Outaouais. Board president Frédéric Marchand believes, however, that the composition of the committee that will choose the names will be very important to avoid oversights.
When you take on a project with several names at once, there's always that fear," he admits. Have we forgotten someone? Is there someone who's had a longer sporting life who should have been on the list?
Mr. Marchand had already collaborated in the past with the now-defunct Musée des sports de Gatineau, which closed its doors in 2019. Some of the artifacts are now housed at the Panthéon des sports du Québec in Montreal.
He believes that Gatineau can learn from its sister city of Sherbrooke, which has created an outdoor Sports Hall of Fame along Lac des Nations. The plaques commemorate the athlete's name, discipline and involvement in society.
Right now in Gatineau," he says, "there are parks, a few arenas and a swimming pool that bear the names of athletes or volunteers who have made an impact.Marchand, who believes the city missed an opportunity in the last decade with the opening of a major building.
We have a great sports center called just Centre sportif de Gatineau, which deserves to be named after an athlete.
A quote from Frédéric Marchand, Chairman of the Board, Gatineau and Outaouais Heritage Network
We have a mayor who seems to love her city's heritage. Well, this is an opportunity for her to say: you see, this is what I'm capable of doing for heritage, among other things, without it costing an arm and a leg. We could do several examples like that.
With a master's degree in museology, Frédéric Marchand notes that Gatineau has a rich history in sports, and not just field hockey. In particular, he cites curling, baseball, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing and cycling, all of which have produced talented athletes and respected coaches.
For his part, Gilles Chagnon believes that toponymy can be a tool for stimulating a sense of belonging among the citizens of a neighborhood or city.
It's important for me to remember our characters and our builders," he says.
In fact, Ville de Gatineau's commitment in this area was recognized by the Commission de toponymie du Québec last summer, when it was awarded the Mérite en toponymie 2024 prize.
Its efforts to designate places on its territory, notably by honouring the memory of women as well as the culture and language of the Anishinabeg community, were highlighted.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/
