Efforts are being made to preserve a historical building in your community.
The St. Joachim Parish in La Broquerie received historical status in 2000. While there are many older structures across Manitoba, very few have historical status, especially in the southeast. Lucien Grenier, a member of the church’s financial committee, shares that such status is remarkable not only to the people in the municipality or town of La Broquerie, but to anyone with a family history of immigration to Canada.
“When you’ve got something that’s historical that embodies your culture and heritage, it’s amazing to see how the people who came over in the 1800’s worked together and communities came together to build these buildings.”
Grenier notes that the lumber used in construction was local, and the bricks and stones came from a foundry between Steinbach and La Broquerie, while the current chimney and steeple were brought in from Winnipeg.
In order to ensure that the church will continue to stand for decades to come, the committee is looking to tackle a small mountain of tasks to increase longevity and accessibility. Items on the to do list include ramp installation, door replacement or repair, foundation and masonry work, interior and exterior lighting, insulation, fire alarm system and new windows.
The committee applied with the provincial government for a building envelope, and they qualified. They were recommended to go for a ‘Deep Retrofit’, but are now awaiting approval.
Grenier goes into more detail about upcoming changes:
“Well, the project consists of many projects inside the bigger project,” he states. “There’s a list. The foundation has one area that is kind of sagging a bit. We had the insulation tested- there’s no insulation in the walls, or very little. The ceiling is a little bit better, but not a whole lot. Windows are 45 to 50 years old. The church steps are not accessible, so our first project is going to be the steps, automating the doors, and two ramps.”
The estimated cost of this work is well over 1.2 million. All things considered, that’s not too bad for a 125 year old building.
“We just had an engineer come out- he’s going to do the blueprints for repairing the basement under the sanctuary,” Grenier says. “He looked at the whole building, and said he’s very impressed how well it has stood up. He says it’s in really good shape. So it’s a really good project to be working on, and we should have some great success.”
It is clear that the building is greatly cherished by many as its current state is partially due to the little fixes- minor repairs that were dealt with in a timely fashion whenever they were found.
“It’s good that somebody actually looked at it and said, oh, we need to repair this. If it would have been left to sit for a little bit longer, who knows what could have happened.”
Fundraising efforts have been ongoing including meetings with potentially-supportive organizations, emails to corporations, and applying for grants.
"In the early stages, we presented our project to our parishioners. They have been supportive in many ways.”
An effective example of parishioner support is a monthly 50/50 put on by committee helpers, Cécile Fournier and Ann-Marie Adams. The church will also be hosting a raffle, where prizes include a $500.00 Thermea gift card, a $1500.00 Granite Hill Play & Stay gift card, and a $5000.00 travel voucher. Tickets will cost $20 each and only 1000 will be printed.
Anyone who wishes to show their support in this manner is welcome to connect with Lucien Grenier at ljgrenier@icloud.com or 1-204-981-7549, or with Ron St-Hilaire at 1-204-371-0058. Donations can be made on the church website, http://paroissestjoachim.com/
Anyone who wishes to support this important work is invited to learn more, or to make a donation.