By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Sean Gauthier-Neilson was one of hundreds of thousands of Montreal renters who suddenly became much more familiar with the four walls of their apartments – and he wasn’t thrilled with what he saw.
Gauthier-Neilson is originally from Rimouski, and was missing the wide open spaces and riverside landscapes he grew up with in the Lower St. Lawrence, but didn’t want to move too far away from his professional contacts in Montreal. He and his partner dreamed of becoming homeowners and moving out of the city. They ultimately bought a house in Brigham, which he describes as a “magnificent little village,” and moved in four years ago.
When Gauthier-Neilson, who runs a business in the audiovisual sector, moved in, there was a single shop in the centre of town – “a dépanneur that was run by two people who did an extraordinary job.” When the owners announced they were planning to close the store, Gauthier-Neilson and his friend Benjamin Bleuez – also a pandemic-era transplant – got a group of neighbours together with the goal of purchasing the store and turning it into a co-op where local businesses could sell their products. Although they were ultimately unable to buy the store, the experience led them to realize “that there were people around who were interested in getting things moving a bit more, in revitalizing the village.” The Fondation de révitalisation de Brigham was born. “We thought, is there anywhere else in the village that we could use to house a co-op?” said Gauthier-Neilson, now the foundation’s president.
The group, now a registered nonprofit, turned its attention to Église Sainte-Marie-Médiatrice de Brigham, the village’s francophone Catholic church, built in a former hotel, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary this year. Although the church still holds regular services, discussions have been underway for the past several years with a view to finding it a new long-term vocation. “It’s a big project. There’s a triangle – there’s us, the municipality, and the parish – and it’s a lot of work, especially for a group of volunteers who can’t give 100 per cent of their time to it. We want to make sure we’re doing things right.”
Eventually acquiring the church would be costly – “It’s still a real estate transaction; we have to talk about money and conditions,” Gauthier-Neilson said. The group envisions turning the church into a community space, with concerts, movie nights, children’s activities and room rentals, in addition to moving the thrift store there and perhaps adding a café and community kitchen. “We do have a lot of cyclists who come through here, and we’re on the Route des Vins, so offering services to people passing through, having a little tourist attraction value, that could be interesting.” A full business plan is still in development.
In the interim, as a sort of proof of concept, the group has been renting the former dépanneur since late last year. They now run a thrift store, café and ice cream shop (Le Voisin Général), with support from about 30 volunteers and an employee hired through a federal youth employment grant. They also hold free arts and crafts activities for kids in the summer.
The group’s long-term goal is to establish a permanent co-op which would create jobs, offer a space for local businesses to sell their products, provide more local entertainment and recreation options, make more products and services available locally and “keep more of Brighamites’ money in Brigham.”
“If we can be self-sufficient, if we don’t have to go visit the neighbours for every little thing, then we go see our neighbours for the right reasons, to help out, to talk, to understand each other, for solidarity,” Gauthier-Neilson said. “It’s one part of the solution to world peace, when you look at it that way.”
To learn more about the Co-op de Brigham or to volunteer, email coopbrigham@gmail.com or contact the organization on Facebook (Voisin Général – Un projet de COOP Brigham)