Anticosti wants$ 200,000 to try his luck at UNESCO

Frederick Jolicoeur Tétreault

Wednesday, 24 January 2018 23:02

UPDATE
Wednesday, 24 January 2018 23:02

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ANTICOSTI ISLAND | The Municipality of Anticosti island has launched a campaign sociofinancement to defray the costs of the process of nomination of the island to the UNESCO world heritage site.

Anticosti island must assemble a folder of official candidature to UNESCO, since the canadian government has included the island on its tentative list. Mayor John Pineault believes that the process could cost 200 000 $.

It would be difficult to impose the bill to some 300 islanders of the place, believes Nature Quebec, a partner in the project.

Not Paris

“The Vieux-Québec was recognized at the UNESCO, but this has been supported by the citizens and the municipality. Anticosti is not Paris nor London. You may not load it to the citizens, ” note the director-general, Christian Lepage.

In order to pay for the charges, the municipality of the Côte-Nord region has therefore launched a campaign sociofinancement. The 25 000 signatories of the petition for the protection of the Island have been invited to contribute to the campaign.

“For the moment, the campaign is public, but soon it will approach people from the business community and the political class,” says the mayor.

Nothing guaranteed

“It is necessary to document what makes the place special and why it is unique in the world. It is necessary to demonstrate the impact of the site on human evolution and explain how it will be protected. This can be a document of over 1000 pages, ” says Pineault.

The park of fossils Mistaken Point in Newfoundland is one of the last sites in canada to have obtained the protection of UNESCO, and it took him 12 years.

In the eyes of the mayor, this indicates that nothing is guaranteed.

“It is all a matter of timing. It may be that in two years, our document is not accepted and that we are asked to return to do our homework. Even if it is accepted, it may be that we are not priority and that a site that was waiting for since a longer time passes before us “, he explains.