Ground-breaking ceremony for Afro-Canadian Cultural Centre in Montreal

There was a ground-breaking ceremony Monday for the Afro-Canadian Cultural Centre in Montreal -- a Canadian first.

Ground was broken on Monday for the Afro-Canadian Cultural Centre in Montreal.

The former Ecole des Beaux-Arts building will house this Canadian first.

After years of planning, work begins on the centre located on Saint-Urbain just north of Sherbrooke Street West.

“For the Black community to have a space where they could be free to be artists and thrive. And it’s going to be wonderful right here in Montréal, one of the biggest in Canada. How exciting is that?” said Joan Lee, president of the West Island Black Community Association.

The former century-old building will be renovated with $40 million of public and private money to create the biggest community hub for Black Canadian communities.

“It’s a project that obviously the federal government wanted to support. $21 million of federal support from different programs, whether it’s heritage, whether it’s building green buildings for communities. It is going to be a one of a kind project,” said Montreal MP Steven Guilbeault, who has been part of the project for years.

“We have a lot of corporate partners and private philanthropic partners that have also been very present to really support our work. And we’re very happy about that,” said Allen Alexandre, the new centre’s executive director and the driving force behind the project.

Former Quebec Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade, who has Haitian roots and is currently director of education at HEC, said the whole diaspora will be welcome.

“We have a huge community with different backgrounds. Obviously, I’m going to talk about the Haitian community, but we have people from the Caribbean, we have people from Africa. We have people from lots of different areas in the world. And I think it’s high time for us from Montreal to have such an institution,” Anglade said.

Frank Baylis’ family has a long and important history in the Black Community and says this centre is very important.

“Montréal is a cultural centre. And now to have a cultural centre, a Black cultural centre for the entire country, but based here in Montréal, I think it’s a win for the community,” Baylis said.

After 16 years of standing vacant, the building will soon be hosting vibrant events. It is slated to open at the end of 2027.