By Edith Benoit, North Bay
I have great concerns about the success of the monumental city-wide effort to save the Dionne Home Museum and Artifacts and keep them in North Bay.
There is currently a motion before city Council to give the Home and some Artifacts to Strong Township pursuant to their proposal.
At the outset, the Friends of the Dionne Quint’s Home Museum group (FDQHM) demonstrated to the City that there is a very real and solid desire on the part of a large number of citizens that this historic Home and Artifacts be kept here in North Bay. Presentation after presentation was made by various knowledgeable and respected North Bay citizens and yet up to the ‘ninth hour’ it came within a hair’s breadth of being voted ‘away’.
Through the efforts of Councilors, Chris Mayne, Derek Shogren and George Maroosis the matter was given ‘a reprieve’ wherein a special committee was convened and three open-to-the-public meetings set up to receive input “to detail to North Bay council, a community supported proposal to keep and maintain the Dionne Quintuplet homestead and its artefacts here in North Bay and to protect and promote their usage for the future”.
The “FDQHM” support group were initially advised to formally set up a Board, raise funds and offer suggestions to the three councilors to aid in the preparation of draft recommendations. These ‘suggestions’ outlined how we would proceed if the Home and Artifacts were to remain in the City. We were also tasked with a ‘future plan’ for the Dionne Home Museum and its Artifacts in order that it eventually become a ‘self-sustaining’ asset and be of value, contributing to the historic, educational and economic aspect of the City as a whole.
It is not widely realized by many citizens that the Artifacts associated with the Dionne Quintuplets and their home are extremely valuable. The Home and these Artifacts are assets and are owned by the citizens of North Bay. Neither the Home nor the Artifacts have been treated with the recognition, dignity, and respect they are due. The proposition of the Home where the first ever surviving quintuplets were born being given to an agricultural society to become a pioneer house and the unique Artifacts being split apart, disbanded, and given to separate entities without the citizens of North Bay knowing of the extensive inventory and its unrecognized wealth is ludicrous!
FDQHM are also very concerned about the present condition of the Dionne Home and its future condition after being moved. A building condition assessment was done prior to 2004 which indicated that to bring the building up to code at that time it required $85,000.00 in repairs. Little was done in the way of those repairs other than a new roof, leaving the bulk of those repairs still to be done. It was and is the City’s responsibility to see to these repairs so that an operating board is not faced with huge expenses before being able to open and operate the Home/Museum.
The Managing Director of Community Services revealed to a meeting March 20th that a building condition assessment had already been done and that it was determined that “the building is in pretty good shape” and, “that no repairs were necessary at this time”.
How can it be that a building that needed $85,000.00 of repairs in 2004 and has sat there for thirteen years with only a new roof placed by way of repairs, “magically” does not require any other repairs at this time! I believe the key is in the wording of the report which referred to the ‘standard’ the house needed to be restored to - and that terminology worries me greatly.
If the home is ‘given’ to Strong Township as proposed I feel there is much less onus on the City to concern itself with the condition of the building. It would simply be responsible for ensuring that the Home is able to be put on a float and transported away. If it is to stay in North Bay and eventually be used, it has to meet current building code standards in order to be open to the public. Facing major repairs prior to any public access to the Home/Museum would potentially doom the plan to failure at the worst and at the very least greatly prolong the time before the vision for the Home could be realized.
There has been so much support, local and country-wide, expressed for keeping the Home and Artifacts here in North Bay and, of late, many widely publicized news reports that the Boards that govern operation of the North Bay Waterfront have agreed to the placing of the Home at the waterfront, in the vicinity of the Discovery North Bay Museum.
I believe the public is being lulled into a false sense of security thinking keeping the Home in North Bay “is a done deal”. It is definitely not a done deal and won’t be until Council’s decision in April!
I fear unless the people of North Bay and anyone concerned about the Dionne Home Museum continue “the fight” - to stand up, speak up and be counted - there is a very real chance that at the last minute - Council may “drop the other shoe” and this wonderful historic Home and near priceless Artifacts will be lost to us forever.
Edith Benoit
