Vanier’s history unfolds!
The Richelieu Center / photo: Benoit Aubry
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.
The Richelieu Park
The Richelieu Park / photo: Benoit Aubry
The property called Richelieu Park belonged
in the past to the Society of Missionaries
of Africa. These priests were
well known as the White Fathers. They
built an important scholasticate on the
site of the Richelieu Park in 1938. Two
extensions were added in the 1950s. It
was an imposing building and of course
interesting from an architectural angle.
The White Fathers also built a sugar shack
on the property.
The property of the White Father was
bought by the City of Vanier in 1977 and
the main building of the scholasticate was
demolished. In 1985, Vanier’s City Hall
moved in one of the remaining buildings.
Today, the 17.5 acres of the Richelieu Park
remain a natural treasure in the midst of
an urban setting. The Vanier Museopark,
the Richelieu-Vanier Community Center,
the Vanier Public Library and even
a sugar
shack are all located in the Richelieu
Park.
A Brief History
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.
The Museum
Vanier-on-the-Ottawa / photo: Benoit Aubry
On October 11th, 2006, the Muséoparc Vanier Museopark officially opened its doors with a first exhibition named “Vanier-sur-l’Outaouais, aujourd’hui pour demain,” or Vanier-on-the-Outaouais, today for tomorrow. This exhibition explores the history of the Vanier district with themes like the First Nations, the Voyageurs and the waterways they used for transportation, the first pioneers, education, religion and family life. Elements that generated the social, cultural and economical developments in the last 400 years are brought to light.
Logo
The maple tree, an environmental landmark of the Richelieu Park...
The window, a museum adorned with windows...
The four colors, green representing nature, yellow symbolizing sunshine, red highlighting the passion of Francophones for their language and blue representing the colors of the flag of Vanier.
