Part of Montreal’s Chinatown neighbourhood receives Quebec heritage status

Quebec has designated Montreal’s Chinatown neighbourhood a provincial heritage site, protecting nine buildings in the district from demolition or significant alteration without permission.

The province says the new designation protects the “institutional core” of the city’s Chinatown, including a 19th-century school building and a former cigar factory.

Quebec’s Culture Department says the neighbourhood bears significant markers of Montreal’s more-than-century-old Chinese community, such as the stone arch at the western entrance of the district.

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Members of Montreal’s Chinese community have for years lobbied the city and province to protect the neighbourhood, which is among many Chinatowns across North America that have been threatened by gentrification.

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Work to officially bestow the heritage label on Montreal’s Chinatown has been ongoing since January 2022.

That year, Montreal announced Chinatown would become its first neighbourhood to receive a city-designated status recognizing its historic value.