Tuesday evening, North Bay City Council voted 7-3 in favour of an amendment tabled by Coun. George Maroosis to form a special review committee to work in concert with the Friends of the Dionne Quints Home Museum in their quest to move the Dionne home to a location to be determined near the waterfront.
Coun. Mike Anthony declared a conflict of interest, while Councillors Mac Bain, Daryl Vaillancourt, and Mark King voted against the amendment.
Coun. Chris Mayne, a fervent supporter of keeping the Dionne home in the community will head the special committee, that will also include Maroosis and Coun. Derek Shogren. The mandate of the group, according to City staff will be to "make recommendations with respect to the future of the Dionne home and artefacts to the Community Services Committee on or before April 4, 2017."
The latest in a series of reprieves for backers (including the surviving Dionne quintuplet sisters) of keeping the home and running it as a museum in a new location came on the same night that Council announced that it had finalized the sale of the land on which the Dionne home currently sits.
Following the meeting Mayne seemed confident that a positive outcome would result from the formation of the special committee, saying that "compared to last week, quite frankly I'd say the chances of success are excellent."
"The challenge and the opportunity now is to bring forward a proposal that is still acceptable to the majority of Council. I believe right now the direction has changed at Council, and I give Mayor Al McDonald full credit because that's really where the change started," said Mayne.
The Mayor observed that "Council was split on it and couldn't move forward. We heard from the community that there was a great interest in keeping the home here, and were willing to raise money and volunteer.
"The ability of a Council to find solutions is the most critical point. All of the Councillors wanted to find a solution because they've been trying to deal with it for months and I think our staff members being able to work with the public to find some recommendations moving forward is showing that government truly works and that it's listening.
"That's not to say that government isn't slow and messy at times because it really is, but there's a classic example of trying to find solutions, balance costs, and keep a very important artifact in the City of North Bay."
Mayne added, "There are two excellent potential locations [for the home]. One is near the Discovery North Bay Museum, that's a discussion that's been ongoing, but I think there's still room for more discussion. The second location is on the waterfront itself, specifically near the carousels. It's a high-volume foot traffic area, it's good exposure for the home, there are washrooms in the area."
Mayne said that he did not expect any federal or provincial funding short-term, in the next three to six months. "Those are longer-term issues. I don't see funding coming up that quickly."
Councillor Mark King, in an email to Dionne quints spokesman Carlo Tarini said, "It appears now that more national exposure has taken place and I would hope
that the federal Minister responsible for heritage will intervene."
Jeff Fournier, Chair of the Friends, wrote on the Save the Dionne Home Facebook page following Tuesday's events that "the Friends of the Dionne Quintuplets Home Museum want to belong to this new committee. To us, that means being a full-fledged member, taking part in all meetings, all discussions and being involved in actually writing up the plan to keep the Dionne Home Museum intact together with its artifacts in the city of North Bay.
"We would like to ask council that they endorse keeping the Dionne Home Museum in North Bay as soon as possible so that we can effectively fundraise, pursue Government Grants and work toward our vision of creating an outstanding educational museum-interpretive centre for generations to come. We would like the Strong Agricultural Society proposal and the threat of the Dionne Home Museum being moved there, off the table very, very soon."
Mayor Al McDonald clarified that the Dionne affair would not be addressed during Tuesday's meeting, with the review committee headed by Mayne to call public meetings for all to attend.
The Dionne matter, which would have been dealt with at the end of the Council meeting Tuesday, had all of the suspense taken out of it for the larger-than-usual gallery and those watching at home.
Mayne moved for Council to suspend the rules so that the issue could be addressed immediately. This meant that Dionne supporters who had registered with the City Clerk's office to speak had to revise their statements on the fly.
Although all of the presenters spoke with a vigour equal to their previous addresses, this time it was with a visible look of relief on their faces. They had been given time, but there is plenty of work left to be done.
Each thanked Council for reconsidering their stance. Chair of the Friends, Jeff Fournier said that "it was nice to work together," adding that $7,000 had been raised to date, but that citizens remained hesitant to donate until the home was secured in North Bay.
Fournier also noted that the petition that he started in October 2016, had reached 3,150 signees so far in support of keeping the Dionne home in North Bay.
Dick Taffel reminded Council that a BayToday poll had returned results showing that a majority of respondents, 54 per cent, in fact, were in favour of keeping the home.
"Only 12 per cent wanted [the home] to be disbanded, some of you may have even felt that way at one time. I hope not, but maybe," said Taffel.
Liz Lott shared three letters of support for keeping the home in the city, the first from the Department of History at Nipissing University, the second from the Joint Principals Committee of the Near North District School Board, and the third from Janet Calcaterra, an archivist who previously worked for the ONTC.
"I'm truly inspired by the amount of community involvement, dedication and interest in this issue," said Lott.
The surviving Dionne sisters have also made their wishes known to City Council.
Miles Peters, speaking as a private citizen, applauded (and this is no small thing) the Mayor's stance on the creation of a super secondary school, transitioning into a connection to preserving our historical artifacts.
Taffel concluded, "I wanted to congratulate you for seemingly recognizing the need to change your mind about this vitally important monument. I hope that you will listen."
