UNESCO Status for Mount Royal: If Not Today, Maybe Tomorrow

On December 20, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna unveiled Canada’s 2017 Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. Sadly, as you may know by now, Mount Royal was not selected as one of the Canadian sites proposed for UNESCO recognition. Les amis de la montagne is greatly disappointed by this decision. We are convinced that Mount Royal is a unique territory worthy of UNESCO World Heritage standards. With its park, its forests, its neighbourhoods, its major educational and health institutions, its sweeping cemeteries and Saint Joseph's Oratory, the mountain makes for a very lively territory. Mount Royal is also and above all the story of the peoples and generations who have inhabited and protected it over the years.

In our mind, the recognition of Mount Royal as a world heritage site remains an achievable and realistic goal. Last spring, in just a few weeks, more than 33,000 of us showed our support as part of the “We love the mountain. Let’s support UNESCO status for Mount Royal” campaign blitz.

Les amis de la montagne will do our utmost to fully understand the Environment Minister’s decision relative to Canada’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in order to better position the mountain for possible UNESCO recognition in the future.

This setback will only strengthen our resolve!