Canada/Shediac calls for proposals for the future of Maison Pascal-Poirier
The Municipality of Shediac will soon be issuing a call for proposals for the Pascal Poirier Historical House, and is ready to participate in financing the project.
At a Town Council meeting Monday evening, Shediac General Manager Yves Leger reported that more than 180 people had responded to an online survey, and 50 different groups had taken part in targeted consultations to discuss the future of the site.
Ideas varied among the groups and individuals, ranging from complete renovation to partial relocation or demolition.
The final report from the consultations, conducted by Accent Stratégies, was delivered in January. Following Monday's meeting, it was agreed that a formal call for proposals will be issued to determine the fate of Maison Pascal-Poirier.
We want to take the best option, the best project that meets the municipality's objectives, [i.e.] to create a vocation for this building.
A quote from Roger Caissie, Mayor of Shediac
At the same time, the report indicates that the Pascal-Poirier House is in a state of disrepair deemed urgent.
It would cost $693,000 to renovate the building and bring it up to date so that it can retain a similar vocation.
The annual sum allocated in the municipal budget to ensure regular maintenance of the Maison Pascal-Poirier is $10,000. This amount does not include unforeseen costs, such as the water leak on the roof discovered in 2025.
Mayor Roger Caissie explains that the town won't pull out the checkbook for renovations until it has a clear idea of what vocation the historic house will take on.
If we invest money, whether it's from the municipality or jointly with others, what's it going to do at the end of the day? We wanted to find a vocation for the Pascal-Poirier house," he says.
We're going to ask people to put that on paper, to make it clear: what's the financial plan? It's all very well to have a great idea, but if it's not financially feasible, we're back to square one," adds the mayor.
Council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution, and estimates that it will be at least thirty days before the city issues a call for proposals.
We think it's a good idea to leave a certain amount of time for interested groups to put their best foot forward and make a solid presentation," noted Yves Léger on Monday.
A house in need of love
The heritage building is one of the oldest in the Shediac region. The house is also the birthplace and home of the first Acadian senator, Pascal Poirier.
The historic Pascal Poirier House was donated to the Municipality of Shediac by Société Mer Rouge in 2001.
It underwent a facelift for which the town invested a certain amount of money, as did the province of New Brunswick, in 2013.
The municipality did the best it could to try and maintain some kind of programming [until 2020]," says Roger Caissie.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the building closed its doors to the public, and an internal city report was submitted in October 2020 to identify the types of repairs needed at the site.
A second report, this time from Design Plus Architecture, in December 2022, then aimed to analyze the condition of the house with a view to reopening it as a museum accessible to the public. At the time, costs were estimated at around $483,000. Four years later, the bill has ballooned by $200,000.
It's been a few years since the Pascal-Poirier house has been inactive, and it needs a certain amount of love in terms of its condition.
A quote from Roger Caissie, Mayor of Shediac
It was made clear at Monday's meeting that proposals to demolish the building would run counter to the definition of the call for proposals to find a vocation for the historic Pascal-Poirier house, while respecting its historical heritage.
For his part, the mayor is confident about the future of the Pascal-Poirier house.
If it's a community group, for example, that wants to get organized and promote Pascal Poirier's legacy, there's nothing stopping them from conceiving their idea and forming partnerships," he says. Together, there's strength in numbers, and we can come up with some great things.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca/
