Mount Royal Cemetery sues City over closure of Camilien-Houde

Mount Royal Cemetery is taking the Plante administration to court, hoping to stop the city from closing Camillien-Houde Way, which would block cars from entering the cemetery.

The planned closure is part of a plan, announced by Plante in September of 2023, to revamp the mountain, pedestrianizing the roadway, and installing trees, plants, and a bicycle path. Plante said, at the time, that the mountain is “not a shortcut, but a destination,” referring to the majority of motorists who use the road to get from one side of the mountain to the other. The plan, which Plante said is for the benefit of future generations, would mean the roadway would be closed by 2027. The bicycle path would be open to emergency vehicles.

A pilot project five years earlier saw Projet Montréal ban vehicles from Mount Royal for the first time, a move that, even then, drew ire due to the lack of consultation.

Opposition Leader Aref Salem said that was the problem then, and it is the problem now. He posted on his X account, “When a cemetery needs to go to court to be heard, it proves that the administration has a serious listening problem. Under Projet Montréal public consultations have become a farce, and citizens’ voices have been ignored.”

Maxime Jacques, general manager of Mount Royal Commemorative Services, said the hope is that the city would reconsider the project, and perhaps rethink it to be more in consideration of the rights of families with loved ones buried in the cemetery.

The cemetery had sent a letter after Plante’s announcement in 2023 arguing that the plan would go against an agreement the city has in place with the cemetery going back to 1928, and would thus be illegal. The nearly 100-year-old agreement guarantees the cemetery access to Camillien-Houde in perpetuity. And the city was indeed made aware, in a traffic management study commissioned by them, that this would be a problem.

The city appears to be sticking to its guns, and expressed hopes that the impasse can be worked out.

The cemetery’s suit adds that if the city does not back down it should compensate the cemetery for damages in the amount of $15 million. n