An institution that was a pillar of the Black community in Little Burgundy for more than half a century may soon be revived.
A new committee is hoping to build a brand new NCC that would restore the organization to its former glory.
“We feel this is the moment to rebuild and reclaim and revive the NCC,” said Victor Paris, a banker who is part of the new committee. As a child, he said he played basketball there every weekend, while his siblings took dancing and music lessons.
These days, on Coursol Street where the historic Negro Community Centre (NCC) once stood, there is just an empty lot covered in overgrown grass. Founded in 1927 by Reverend Charles H. Este, the NCC was a huge presence in the lives of English-speaking Black Montrealers for decades.
“It was a cultural centre, as you know, where Oscar Peterson learned to play the piano from his sister, Daisy Sweeney, as well as Oliver Jones,” recalled committee member David Shelton.
READ MORE: Daisy Peterson Sweeney celebrated in Saint-Henri as city changes its tune on honouring her
Facing financial troubles, it closed in 1989 and began to deteriorate. The organization behind it fell into insolvency. The historic building was sold to a private developer in 2014 and demolished.
“So over time, as the Black community was dispersed out of the community, there was not enough people coming to the centre to sustain it, so it fell into disrepair. There just wasn’t enough revenue. The model we’re going to create now will have continuing revenue,” said Paris.
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On Saturday, he and other members of a new group held a press conference in front of where the NCC once stood. The NCC-Rev. Charles H. Este Committee announced a grand vision to rebuild it with a new business model.
“There will be a library, there will be an auditorium, there will be a travelling historical exhibition,” explained Paris.
However, the land is owned by Paul Sen Chher, a developer who has a very different vision.
“We have a crisis in the housing rental market, so I want to create a property that is 95 per cent housing rentals,” he explained. Chher’s idea also imagines businesses on the ground floor, and a museum space dedicated to the NCC.
For Chher’s dream to be realized, he would need a zoning change to be authorized by the city.
“Nothing can be built on this site other than what we would propose to build, which is a culturally, historically significant place, unless you have a zoning change, which the city has confirmed will not happen,” Paris claimed.
The Plante administration said they have no comment on the matter at this time when reached by Global News.
READ MORE: Questions on sale still surround Negro Community Centre
“We require that the government, and particularly the City of Montreal, shows us an action that not only black lives matter, but our cultural spaces, our history, our story,” said committee member Tiffany Callender.
Chher told Global News he is open to selling the land for the right price. The committee strongly believes they can get the money together to buy it and create a profitable NCC that will celebrate Montreal’s Black community for many years to come.
There will be a march in support of the new NCC idea on Aug. 1, the date slavery was abolished in Canada.
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