In operation since 2022, the Centre d'archives de Vaudreuil-Soulanges (CAVS) officially inaugurated its new premises at 12, Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Saint-Polycarpe on Monday April 29.

Several elected municipal officials were on hand for the eagerly-awaited inauguration. Among those present were mayors Bernard Daoust (Les Cèdres), Peter Zytynsky (Pointe-des-Cascades), Pierre Séguin (L'Île-Perrot), Jean-Yves Poirier (Saint-Polycarpe), Yvon Chiasson (Saint-Zotique), Claude Comeau (Pincourt) and mayors Danie Deschênes (Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot), Mylène Labre (Saint-Clet) and Julie Lemieux (Très-Saint-Rédempteur). Véronique Cunche attended the event as a representative of the Ville de Coteau-du-Lac.

Patrick Bousez, prefect and mayor of the Municipality of Rivière-Beaudette, also took part in the festivities, as did Mélanie Maranda and Jeanne Turbide from the offices of MNAs Marie-Claude Nichols and Marilyne Picard, and Claude DeBellefeuille, MP for Salaberry-Suroît. The inauguration was also attended by the CAVS Board of Directors and the Director General of Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, Valérie D'Amour.

The CAVS's new facilities now offer storage space enabling the organization to cover the entire Montérégie-Ouest region, while providing the public with access for consulting historical documents.

Each area has been designed to meet the requirements of archive acquisition, processing, conservation and dissemination. What's more, the premises now have a room reserved for researchers, who will be able to access reference documents for free consultation, as well as archives brought in by archivists.

“Thanks to the efforts of several stakeholders, including the elected representatives of Vaudreuil-Soulanges and the MRC, who believed in our project and continue to believe in our mission, the Centre d'archives team is proud to have found a home to ensure the continued preservation of the Montérégie-Ouest region's documentary heritage.This long-term collaboration has paid off,” notes Julie Bellefeuille, Director and Archivist at the Centre d'archives de Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

Major investments

Formerly home to the Caisse populaire, 12 Saint-Jean-Baptiste was purchased by the MRC de Vaudreuil-Soulanges in 2020 for $333,648.82. “The MRC's buildings committee evaluated the various options for meeting archive preservation standards, and opted for 12, Saint-Jean-Baptiste, notably because of the presence of vaults in the building and the revitalization project underway in the Municipality of Saint-Polycarpe,” said MRC Prefect Patrick Bousez. 

Mr. Bousez also paid tribute to the mayor of Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot, Danie Deschênes, who headed the MRC de Vaudreuil-Soulanges building committee at the start of the project.

For more than a year and a half, teams from the MRC and CAVS were busy transforming the building's enclosure to provide spaces suitable for archiving and preserving historical documents dating back as far as 400 years. The work, costing $640,000, was paid for by the Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC.

“The Centre d'archives de Vaudreuil-Soulanges would particularly like to thank Danie Deschênes, mayor of Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot, and Jean-Yves Poirier, mayor of Saint-Polycarpe, who led the new MRC buildings committee in 2020. Through their actions, they kick-started this adventure, which led us to 12, rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Saint-Polycarpe,” adds René Levac, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Centre d'archives de Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

“This achievement reflects the region's firm commitment to preserving its heritage for present and future generations”, concluded Patrick Bousez, Prefect of Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

The CAVS welcomes researchers every Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Visits can also be arranged by appointment on other days of the week.

For further information: archivesvs.org