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The theme is designed to encourage a redeployment of reflections and practices beyond classical “post-industrial” formulations coloured by escheat and obsolescence. It thus aims to further decompartmentalize industrial heritage, as instigated by previous congresses. While reserving a space for discussion on buildings and their conservation, as well as, naturally, on other industrial infrastructure and artefacts, the 2021 TICCIH congress in Montreal is designed to perpetuate and renew research and exchanges on less-discussed areas of industrial heritage, by addressing the identity of industrial civilization from the angle of its representations, culture, and territories, and of their documentation and enrichment. As such, beyond the manufacturing industry, we can ask ourselves what is “the industrial” in the contemporary world, both in terms of what remains and with regard to current productions: is the knowledge economy an industry? How does the major multinational industry of the 20^th century view itself, faced with “castles of the industry” and at the time of its own demise? How to discuss neighborhoods where the working-class identity is disappearing? Or how, conversely, to preserve the brand of industry in the urban centres that it forged, including modern cities, company towns, or working-class neighbourhoods undergoing significant economic, social, and cultural changes? One can, likewise, question the methods and practices beyond mere preservation: what are the contributions and issues of increasingly popular oral history? What about branding strategies, which have positioned vast requalification operations on a planetary scale? How can industrial tourism adapt to the new desires of visitors?

It is around such questions that the 2021 TICCIH Congress will be based. This will, in short, “reload” industrial heritage by capitalizing on its territorial and social reality to reflect on its new or potential identities and to rethink it within the changing culturescapes of the decades to come.

Montreal

The city of Montreal offers many sites for congress workshops or for the visits that will precede, succeed, or punctuate the congress itself. Among the event’s social activities, in which will be included artistic performances, various discussions on products and sites of the agri-food industry of Quebec, and, of course, a closing dinner that we are considering holding in the Old Port of Montreal, the Congress will incorporate afternoon visits such as of the working-class neighbourhood of Saint-Henri, which will provide an opportunity to demonstrate new interpretation and excursion tools; the Lachine Canal sector; the Griffintown neighborhood, a former industrial area profoundly transformed by a major revitalization operation in these past years; and various recent or current requalification projects, recognized for their innovative character, such as of the Molson Brewery complex and Building 7. A travelling exhibition on company towns in Canada, organized by the Société historique du Lac-Saint-Jean (Lac-Saint-Jean historical society) in collaboration with the Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage, could also be hosted in Montreal at the same time as the congress.

Pre-conference and post-conference tours

On August 28 and 29, as well as from September 4 to 7, the Congress will offer delegates longer excursions in Quebec and in nearby territories such as Eastern Ontario and the US, if possible. An itinerary will, for example, include Shawinigan’s Cité de l’énergie and Boréalis, two important sites for fostering an understanding and appreciating the important legacy of hydroelectricity and the paper industry, which were decisive in the economic, social, and territorial development of Quebec. This excursion to sites located about 90 minutes from Montreal, as well as an outing to former asbestos mines in Thetford Mines (2 hours from Montreal), could be offered independently or in combination with a longer excursion (2 to 3 days) to Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, a significant area with regard to industrialization in Quebec, where visitors will discover, among other points of interest, a half dozen company towns ranging from the “ghost” village of Val-Jalbert, offering the possibility of overnight accommodations, to Arvida, where the still-active aluminium smelter played a key role in the Allied war effort during World War Two. A tour could also visit Brantford, as well as other industrial centres in southern Ontario, in collaboration with the Canadian Industrial Heritage Center (CIHC) based in Brantford, once the third-largest exporter of manufactured goods in Canada. after Montreal and Toronto.

Such excursions will also provide the opportunity to integrate stays of varying length in the City of Toronto or in Quebec City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Local organizing committee

Michelle Bélanger, Postdoctoral fellow, Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage

René Binette, Director, Écomusée du Fier-Monde, Montréal

Dinu Bumbaru, Directeur des politiques, Héritage Montréal

Martin Drouin, professor, Department of Urban and Tourism Studies, University of Quebec in Montreal

Marie-Blanche Fourcade, Head, Collections and Exhibitions, Montreal Holocaust Museum

Alain Gelly, historian, Archaeology and History Branch, Parks Canada

Steven High, professor, Co-Director of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, Concordia University

Myriam Joannette, phD Student, Études urbaines, University of Quebec in Montreal

Josée Laplace, coordinator, Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage, University of Quebec in Montreal

Lucie K. Morisset, professor, Chairholder of the Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage, University of Quebec in Montreal

Luc Noppen, professeur, Director of partnerships, Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage, University of Quebec in Montreal

Canada Research Chair on Urban Heritage

Created in June 2001 within UQAM’s School of Management, the CRC on Urban Heritage is part of the Canada Research Chairs Program, a national strategy designed to support excellence in research and development.  Bolstered by many knowledge mobilization events, the Chair’s program tackles the processes and mechanisms that contribute to heritage building and its incorporation into collective identities. The Chair also aspires to contribute to the renewal of heritage theories and practices through a differentiated understanding of the concepts that support them in various post-industrial and post-colonial contexts.

Association québécoise pour le patrimoine industriel

The Association québécoise pour le patrimoine industriel promotes the study, knowledge, preservation, and development of industrial heritage in Quebec. Founded in 1988 by historians, consultants, civil servants from Quebec’s Ministère de la Culture et des Communication (MCC), and museologists, Aqpi brings together professionals and individuals with an interest in industrial heritage. In addition to organizing congresses, conferences, and field visits, Aqpi publishes a newsletter and collaborates with organizations and individuals who defend industrial heritage. Funded by the MCC, Aqpi educates the general public on the importance of industrial heritage.