The Muséoparc Vanier Museopark is a non-profit, community museum named for its location in the Richelieu Park. The Museopark’s mandate is threefold:
- to showcase the natural beauty of the Richelieu Park and protect its heritage forest;
- to highlight and protect Vanier’s cultural heritage;
- to showcase the heritage and history of Vanier’s Francophones and, by extension, of all its cultural components, Francophones of Ottawa and all of Ontario’s French-speaking community. It is the only francophone museum in Ottawa of one of the rare Canadian museums outside of Quebec dedicated to the French-speaking community.
It was the group Action Vanier, with Mr. René Doré as president, who first set up a committee with the mandate of creating the first Museum of Vanier. This committee’s first meeting was held at Action Vanier’s maple grove in 2002 and was presided over by Mrs. Diane Doré. Many Vanier District mayors and councillors attended (Mr. Roger Crête, Mr. Guy Cousineau, Mrs. Gisèle Lalonde) as well as interested residents. Thanks to numerous partners and sponsors, including the City of Ottawa, the ROPFO (Regroupement des organismes du patrimoine franco-ontarien), the B.I.A. Vanier Business Improvement Area and the Trillium Foundation of Ontario, the Vanier Museopark was born.
You are invited to visit our murals – share in our history, present day activities and dreams of the future.
Over the past few years PubliArt Vanier, a committee supported by a number of interested public and private donors have had over thirty murals painted in the Vanier Quartier. Some, taken directly from old photographs depict history of the area and some show the imagination and love of colour of today’s young people.
While enjoying the murals, you can look for the ‘signature’ of some of the artists – David Yeatman puts a teddy bear in his murals. Karole Marois follows a favoured teacher’s description of an artist, he has ‘his heart in his hand’ while a mouse is the ‘signature’ of Bernard Lévesque, a well-known illustrator of childrens’ stories.
Yvon R. Dubé
President, Société PubliArt Vanier Inc.