Save Les Forges de Montreal !

Subject: LES FORGES DE MONTRÉAL ORDERED TO EVICT!

SUPORT US STEP 2.

Montréal, August 8 – In an effort to support Les Forges de Montréal, we are asking the public to share the video Refusons l’éviction des Forges de Montréal.

We are grateful for the support expressed by a great number of people in the past few weeks. Les Forges de Montréal needs your continued support in raising awareness about our non-profit organization’s current situation of by sharing our video, Refusons l’éviction des Forges de Montréal.

The city of Montréal issued an eviction order in February. The city owns the building that we have been renting since 2000, under a lease signed by both parties. According to the city, we failed to comply with a clause between 2006 and 2008, and are therefore being ordered to vacate the premises by December 2016. The city served notice eight (8) years after the alleged facts. Clearly, the time period for making claims has lapsed. The city’s actions also fail to acknowledge Forges de Montréal’s efforts to pass on valuable skills and knowledge that are part of our intangible heritage.

Forge de Montréal’s mission is to raise public awareness, share knowledge and safeguard blacksmithing and the blacksmith trade. Our very survival is at stake at present. The building that we have been occupying for the past 16 years is used by artisan blacksmiths who practice their almost extinct trade on a daily basis, breathing life into an ancient craft and keeping it alive for future generations.

Les Forges de Montréal’s unique undertaking to demonstrate and sustain blacksmithing, an intangible cultural heritage, shows great potential for development, provided we are given the opportunity to carry on our activities. We have made great efforts to maintain and enhance the heritage building in which we have taken up residence, to the extent of investing over a half-million dollars. The preservation of Riverside Pumping Station, built in 1887, is closely intertwined with Les Forges de Montréal’s continued efforts. Unless actions are taken to cancel the eviction notice, all of our efforts and investments will have been futile.

Refusons l'éviction des Forges de Montréal from marsupilami dubitatif on Vimeo.

You can support Les Forges de Montréal and help us continue our activities at the old pumping station by sharing our video on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. We need your voice! You can also sign our petition, which was launched on July 5.

We’re counting on you!

Watch the video (English subtitles): https://vimeo.com/174935283

Share the

video:https://www.facebook.com/159805824113079/videos/1090728144354171/

Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/maire-ville-montreal-qc-ca-soutien-aux-forges-de-montr%C3%A9al-contre-l-avis-d-expulsion-de-la-ville-de-montr%C3%A9al

For more information on Les Forges de Montréal, contact Mathieu Collette, artisan blacksmith and founding member of Les Forges de Montréal , at 514 838-8557.

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I met a number of the individuals involved with Forges de Montreal at CanIRON 9 in Trois Rivieres (2013)
Their enthusiasm was infectious. Their energy was simply amazing.

Team from Les Forges compacting Lee Sauder's bloom (Lee in purple shirt).

  Blacksmithing continues to have a visibility problem as an element of fine craft inside Canada. Les Forges de Montreal is a gallant effort to bring our work in front of the public  - as a vibrant contemporary art medium. It provides an excellent working space for artisan blacksmiths, and a rare teaching opportunity to ensure the skills are both developed and passed into new generations.