By Joel Weiner
Where would you settle down after living in prestigious Quebec City, Paris and Los Angeles? Or a career that took you to dozens of counties around the globe advising their governments on important national projects? For François LeBlanc, one of the world’s foremost specialists in heritage conservation, the answer was our very own Lowertown
“From what I’ve seen, Ottawa is one of the best cities anywhere and Lowertown is its most interesting area,” says LeBlanc, who certainly has the travel experience to speak with authority. “My wife and I are no more than a 15-minute walk away from almost everything we need – for example, groceries, pharmacies, small shops and a shopping centre, our church and the National Gallery. We also have beauty, with many parks, two rivers and the Gatineau Hills in constant view. We think that this is an ideal location.” It also helps that both his married daughters live in the region.
In many respects, LeBlanc’s move to Lowertown marked a return to his professional roots after a distinguished international career that made him famous not only in his field but far beyond. Born in Shawinigan in 1946 but raised in St. Lambert, his very first job after graduating from the University of Montreal was with the federal government in the nation’s capital.
That was in 1971 when, as a freshly minted architect, LeBlanc was hired by the Restoration Services Division of Parks Canada. RSD had just been set up to monitor, maintain and repair literally hundreds of national historic sites across the country, many of which were falling into disrepair. LeBlanc was one of its earliest recruits because a candidate search identified him as among the few Canadians with both the interest and training to work in the emerging field of heritage conservation.
For the next eight years LeBlanc served as Canada’s Chief Architect of Historic Sites from the French Period, initially based in Ottawa and later in Quebec City. After that, it was off to Paris in 1979 to head up the International Council on Monuments and Sites Secretariat. Founded in 1965 under the Venice Charter of 1964, ICOMOS – as the organization is known – works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places everywhere and advises UNESCO on World Heritage Sites.
Eventually, Leblanc was lured back to Ottawa by the federal government, first for nine years as Vice-President of the Heritage Canada Foundation and then as Chief Architect for almost a decade at the National Capital Commission. His next stop was Los Angeles, where he spent seven years as Head of Field Projects for the world-famous Getty Conservation Institute and oversaw its projects in more than 25 counties.
Now retired, LeBlanc is still a recognized figure in heritage conservation, His many accolades include 2003 and 2009 inductions into the College of Fellows by the International Association for Preservation Technology and the ICOMOS Academy, respectively. And his personal website (https://ip51.icomos.org/~fleblanc/) – with an extensive library of his own publications as well as a comprehensive collection of technical documents – has become an important resource for students and experts alike in conservation architecture.
LeBlanc’s view is that responsibility for heritage preservation belongs to individuals, families, communities, regions, states, countries or the world at large. “Heritage is whatever each one of us individually or collectively wishes to preserve and pass on to the next generation, whether it is natural, built, living or intangible” he explains. “If we want to preserve something, then it is our heritage.”
With his global perspective, LeBlanc has seen many heritage initiatives that could be emulated in Ottawa. One that he particularly admires is Monument Watch in the Flemish Region of Belgium. For a small membership fee under this program, owners of heritage properties can request annual assessments from conservation experts, who identify what remediation is required, suggest approved professionals to do the work, and facilitate contact with the government department that subsidizesit.
“Our governments offer homeowners financial incentives for energy conservation,” LeBlanc points out. “They should adapt that success to conserving heritage as well.”