JULIE BÉLANGER

Julie is a specialist of the history of Expo 67. She was responsible for the creation of a committee of historians, researchers, Expo enthusiasts, and museum curators in 2007 who document the evolution of the Expo 67 event and sensitize the public to its importance for the city of Montreal’s heritage. Julie is also chief of staff to the Mayor of the South-West borough, and formerly a special advisor for the Minister of Canadian Heritage concerning the Canada 150 file. In the summer of 2018, she participated in a public consultation organized by the Société du Parc Jean Drapeau (SPJD) and the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM) regarding the future of Place des Nations and abandoned Expo 67 pavilions. According to her, many Expo 67 heritage sites were abandoned, and there were no clear plans from the park or the City to save them from decay. So she “decided to take this head on, and invest [her]self in it”. Julie also offers tours of the Expo 67 sites for the public, and has also made public visits to Habitat 67 possible. The facebook group she created unites people who share a nostalgia of that era. But what exactly sits at the basis of this nostalgia? Why the Expo 67 precisely? Is it a celebration of urban heritage that marked their lives as Montrealers? Or is it a celebration of one’s attachment to the island of Notre Dame and Sainte Helene? Julie says that “there is a link between this place, identity, and who we are. Expo 67 is an extremely important and successful event in which we recognize ourselves. It has an important symbolic meaning for all baby boomers who experienced [it], it is linked to their summers when they were 16, 17 years old [...] They have an emotional attachment to the place”. But the move to preserve this heritage, continues Julie, needs to incorporate the idea of creating something new, and something that is more in tune with today’s needs and technologies. Moreover, it should acknowledge the episodes of dispossession and erasure of communities, such as Goose Village, that made way for such an international exhibition to take place.