Nelson Sergerie

GASPÉ – The fundraising campaign launched by the Musée de la Gaspésie to raise funds to create a protective area for the Gaspésienne No. 20 has raised more than $8,000 of its $10,000 goal.

“We have good hope of achieving our objective and this initial fund will be used to set up a formal financing committee because we will enter into a long process to plan how we will shelter this Gaspésienne to preserve it from all and forever,” explains the museum’s director, Martin Roussy.

As soon as good weather arrives, restoration work on the boat and its environment, which suffered damage following a fire last November, will be launched.

“The tenders have been made. The analyses have been set. The insurance procedures are going well. We can move the process forward so that everything is resolved – we hope – before the summer,” says Mr. Roussy.

Subsequently, the phase of protection of the artifact, which was already in the museum’s plans, will be accelerated.

“We can imagine that the project to house the Gaspésienne and connect it to the museum in an architectural ensemble that takes into account the look of the museum, we imagine that will cost around $1.5 million. It’s a very big project that we will build over time to protect it from bad weather and fire,” says the director.

Before proceeding, detailed plans and specifications will be required to determine an accurate cost estimate.

The project to protect the boat was conceived and the Quebec Ministry of Culture was informed of the museum’s plans.

“With what happened, we are going to rush the timetable to achieve it. The outlook is positive,” believes Mr. Roussy.

If all the components align, the protection project will be completed between 2026 and 2027.
“In the meantime, we will try to protect the Gaspésienne. We experienced a fire and it’s quite rare. We will do our best to protect her from this type of incident while waiting for her to be protected in a shelter,” he concluded.